epoxy resin and clark foam

General Discussion
1

I have 3 boards to build this winter and am planning to use clark foam blanks ( ease of shaping, familiarity etc…), but want to laminate using e glass and epoxy resin ( less toxic, more durable etc…) I have a couple of questions, firstly, I have heard suggestions of compatability problems, In my experience epoxy sticks well to anything!! so who is right here? secondly, I don’t want a polished finish, so thought a clear spray finish would be good for epoxy, does anyone have any experience of CMX waterbase finish spray or Dolphin skin base and top coat? any help will be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Mark

2

dont have any experience with the dolphin skin, but i have two fish glassed in Greg’s epoxy, blanks were super blue from clark foam. All in all I’m pleased with the results, it was just too much of a hassle for me as a neophyte in Hot and Humid GA to glass with resin as touchy as epoxy. Also a little more difficult to sand. But STRONG even with my poor craftsmanship the things could stop a train.

3

compatability problems come with using poly resin with EPS/XPS foam.

The poly resin will melt the foam.

Epoxy on clark foam, your good to go.

I also used Greg’s Resin Research epoxy on a clark superblue blank.

don’t know about your other questions

4

I have done many Clark blanks with epoxy. Good way to go. Easy to laminate, no harder than poly. With the right mix of Additive F it is easy to sand, no harder than polyester. Makes a finished board with much better strength to weight than polyester laminate. For instrucctional material e-mail me at

5

Hi Greg, Kevin got all antsy a few days back, in a hurry to finish the Lost’s we were doing for Matt Biolas. As soon as he lam’d, he put them in the hot box, the Clark foam out gassed through the lamination. If he had only waited for the resin to set up first, I believe this wouldn’t have happened.

6

One of the BIG revelations to me on this site… epoxy resin is OK over Clark Foam. I tried Greg’s Resin Research formula using additive F recently and everything went fine. The single 4 oz bottom felt every bit as strong (maybe stronger) as conventional 6oz with polyester.