original construction materials

[lauraj]

I thought I saw a few years ago, but can't find it..I need to confirm that original build resin was polyester.(?) not vinyl-ester...yes?

[James Power]

Hey Lauraj,

I asked Kieth Robinson who built damn near every PDQ hull and deck out there. His response, it changed thru the build history. Interior parts are general purpose polyester resin. Early boat hull and decks were isothalic polyester resin. This was changed to vinylester for the skin coat and isothalic for the laminate. Later boats were Vinlyester for skin as well as the structural laminate.

Hope this helps
James

[catalacmarc]

N activity here in a while but I thought I would post a reply. My 36, 1991 Honu recently was hauled. The hulls and one keel were pristine, no blisters. One keel had a couple of major blisters and had filled with water. Got to wondering if that one keel was polyester resin and the remainder vinyl ester? The difference was just to stark to be accidental.

[thinwater]

My boat had both balsa and foam core. One transom was balsa, the other foam. Decks foam, bulkheads a mix of foam and balsa. All of it was very solid, though, with no bad spots.