This whole 60 dollars or so for a gal. of poly resin is crazy. Working on boats with my dad we bought gallons at around 20 to 30 dollars tops a gallon. Even today with inflation you can get a single gal of it for 42 ish depending on where. To my knowledge laminating resin is laminating resin is laminating resin... Why do surf brands tack on an extra 20 for the same clear laminate resin?
The last gallon jug of Ding - All laminating resin cost me $39 earlier this year in Ocean City Maryland. I just checked www.fiberglasssupply.com and it's $44/gal for clear surf specific resin and $37/gal for the boat resin that probably won't set up as clear as you'd like for a surfboard.. I agree with you though..there seems to be a lot of crazy markups for resin, fins, and the like. For at least the last ten years or so, these guys have had consistently low prices and good customer service: www.fiberglasssupply.com
marine resin will cure brown and look like someone took a doo doo in your ding repair. surfboard poly resin, typically 249-A or 249-B, cures clear. that's why it is more expensive. Go to your local glassing/surfboard factory and they will probably sell you resin by the gallon in the 40-50 dollar range. You can also buy it on places like foamez.com or fiberglassflorida.com for less than $60.
Snj you must of missed where I said clear laminate resin? I've used it on large repair multiple times and it always comes out nice and clear. Mitch do you buy in bulk?
Laminating resin has an additional additive that makes it UV stable vs marine resin that drives up the cost. When a polyester turns brown the double bonds are breaking down causing the material to become brittle, losing physical properties.
I'm not buying in bulk...two-three boards a year means I'm just buying it by the gallon. If I'm in OCMD, I'll pick up a gallon at Coastal Surf Supplies Sometimes its easier to just buy it online from Fiberglassupply and have them ship it. Their prices are really good on things like fin boxes, pigment, cloth....
The only way to do it is to buy in bulk. I used to buy single gallons for around $40 but was blowing through them so quickly it only made sense to buy in bulk. I switched to 5 gallon drums which brought the price down to about $32 a gallon which really helps. Its nuts to think about especially when i end up wasting resin, especially when i do color resin work. But my philosophy is i would rather mix too much then not enough, no sense in spending a bunch of time shaping a board to finish it with a half assed glass job.
Additives drive up the cost... uv stabliizers, uv absorbers, optical brighteners... and shipping is always a killer with the haz mat fees, even on the supply side. Distributors pay shipping fees, too, and as the price of fuel goes up, so do shipping costs.
Part of the reason most of the boat manufacturers mothballed their facilities in my area (for those who don't know, Wilmington used to have a huge boat building industry) was due to emissions regulations related to curing poly resin and with the economy tanking in 2008 they did not have the $$$ to retool for epoxy.
The only way to save any money is with 5 gallons and up. I like fiberglass florida,of course its only an hour drive for me. 5 gallons of 249b costs $130 and with saving on shipping it makes for a fair price.
