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im just starting to buy materals for a project , my first with fiberglass,just a simple box . my problem is all the people in my small town know less then me(atleast i admit it)fiberglass $45.00 gallon?is that ok?and my real problem with fleece, is that can i buy it at a regular fabric shop or? is fleece -fleece? thanks all its might be easy for you but id a clear answer from someone that knows, thanks mike

Fleece is fleece for me unless your going after somthing out of the ordinary, but in your case fleece is fleece

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Suburban boy

45 bucks a gallon is pretty high. It is usually around 30 or less. Try menards or walmart. I have seen quarts at menards for 7 bucks. Walmart you can get them to pricematch just by making doodie up. Bring a gallon through their line and say I saw this exact product for 25 dollars at (fill in the blank) and they will usually just change the price no questions asked.

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fiberglass reminds me of peanut brittle... but fiberglass tastes better!

Yup... pretty much fleece is fleece...

Get sweater fleece if you come across it (fabric stores) it's a bit lighter so it doesn't need as much resin to make a strong base with minimal distortion (just re-enforce the back side of it for maximum strength). The people at the shop I work at find it best to work with especially for beginners.

Good Luck! Post pictures of the work ^-^

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Never send your ducks to eagle school.
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
The 3Ls of life: Learn from the Past, Live for the Present, Look to the Future.

fleece is fleece, but in a pinch I'll use some panty hose from the dollar store

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RTFM

for smaller projects i have used a tee shirt. If the area is load bearing you might want to double up or reinforce with matting. And yes..fleece is fleece..I get mine in the scrape pyle from "the rag shop" which is a small chain in florida..basically an arts and crafts store that sells fabrics too.

I have never tried using pantyhose..does it actually hold enough resin to be any strong?

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Spandex works great because it stretches every way you need it too. Other wisw sweatshirt material works fine.

Agreed, in Australia I went to a fabric chain (Spotlight) and asked for fleece... they had no idea what i was talking about. After I explained what I was doing the pointed me in the spandex type material direction... It worked an absolute treat for me and held resin very well... very cheap too at about $8aud per sq meter.

fleece is just like a blanket, i am surprised it would be hard to find. But if I can find spandex (not very popular since the 1980;s) lol, I would be glad to try it.

I used to use grill cloth as well but a tee shirt works fine for small jobs like pods etc. But for a large job it is easier to find fleece or grill cloth in large pieces.

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fleece is just like a blanket, i am surprised it would be hard to find. But if I can find spandex (not very popular since the 1980;s) lol, I would be glad to try it.

I used to use grill cloth as well but a tee shirt works fine for small jobs like pods etc. But for a large job it is easier to find fleece or grill cloth in large pieces.

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I stay far far away from the walmart and home depot resins man, they are very unpredictable. Go to a marine or body supply store, they'll get ya the good stuff.

Iyes..I totally agree. and sometimes the stuff sits on shelves forever until it is used..not many know that resin has a shelf life..it might work if it's old..and it might not..not worth the risk for a few dollars more..and sometimes you might even pay more for inferior product..it happens.

The last batch I got I needed in a pinch so I went to a "chain" autoparts store. Well apparently the resin was a return because the tube of hardener was missing...but I have plenty so I opened the can and like the whole top 1/3rd was hard...that tells me some genius opened the can..dumped the whole tube of hardner in it..and then retuned it.

Now another good source for resin is Select Products..I don't just say this because I used to work there..the stuff is date coded and they even have "bubble gum" scented resin which is good if you glass in an area where people complain about the smell..I love the smell and the fact that it bothers everyone else..but sometimes you have to bend a little. And thier prices, at least for resin..are competitive.

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i have to agree just a week ago i bought some form home depot and it was junk!!!

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Suburban boy

Ah the shelf life of resin. Who hasn't learned that lesson by soaking a project in cheap resin only to have it not cure. I remember using that stuff and my first batch would start to gel in about 30 min. The next batch I would mix the same way and it would gel in 10, WTF? And within 5 min after that, its rock hard. I'll never buy that crap again.

Hey master, that dude that returned the resin is lucky it didn't catch on fire with how quickly that mast've started catalyzing and heating up.

Yeah that can must have been piping hot for some time...what probably happened is the idiot thought he could just pour the entire hardner in and then he wouldn't have to bother measuring.

Guess he found out it doesn't work that way. And I was wized because that was the only can the store had so I returned it and had to use some old resin I had..I hate using old resin..well I can tell you know why. Don't use resin from a dusty can..lol.

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I personally prefer grill cloth over fleece. IMO fleece soaks up huge quantities of the expensive resin for no structural advantage over grill cloth. I would MUCH rather put that resin into layers of fiberglass mat where it will make the most difference.

For a tip, I ran into a product at a local boat shop that was awesome. It is a UV curing resin. You have no time crunch to beat the resin gelling on you, and any you don't use you can just pour back into the bucket (make sure nothings in it). Once you are done, just take it outside in the sun and it hardens in about 5 minutes (longer on cloudy days). The only other place I've been able to find something similar is here: https://surfsource.net/suncure/index.htm/resin.html Although I have never used the stuff at that link. For projects that you can't take outside, you will need a UV-B light. They are pretty expensive.

hmmmm. I like the idea but i'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit suspicious that I haven't heard of this until now. Is this available at marine supply stores?

Like I said, I've only ran into it at a local boat repair place. Every supply store I've talked to has never heard of it. I've used it on several projects with great results. Ever have to wait too long for the resin to fully cure? Ever have your resin harden too fast? Ever accidently mix too much resin? These are all problems that it eliminates. That's why when I moved away, I did so much research to find a supply of the stuff and found the Suncure product.

man that is awesome. So on the link you provided it looked like the sun cure stuff was something that you mix into the resin, is this true? Or is it just resin itself? Does it use MEKP? I would assume not because that would cause the chemical reaction we're trying to stay away from plus you said you can pour the remainder back into the container. Very cool man, thank you.

The stuff I used was just a resin, nothing to mix in. The activator was already in the resin, it just needed UV light to start the activation process. It looks to me like Suncure offers both resin and a mix-in powder. I like the idea of the powder as you have more flexibility on the type of resin you use. But I have never had a chance to use it since I've found the site.

about 10 years ago I tried some bondo UV body filler. I wonder if it is the same thing... That stuff dried fast, real hard and a pain to shape.

Yeah I did some research on this uv resin and called my composites dealer and he said that the stuff is real finnicky and if you are not doing production line work where you really need to slam stuff out then dont use it.

What did he say was finicky about it?

With the powder stuff that you add to resin, he said you have to be exact in your measurements or you end up with a real mess.

The UV product has been around for a while and from what I was told by the marine shop fabricator is that this product should only be used as an emergency fix while on your boat in the water. He wasn't able to tell me if it's a good replacement for resin and hardner for what we use it for but he told me that when he sees it on a boat he replaces the area with proper methods of fiberglass. He gave me some of this UV product to test out so I'll get back to you when I have a chance to use it. And in respose to spandex that hasen't been used since the 80's that probably right and at least we found a good use for it instead of the 300 pound person at the beach.

That sounds about right because alot of the sites that I found it on mentioned using it to fix a crack in a surfboard.

The place where I get the UV resin at is a boat repair company. They keep it in stock for their own uses and seem to be very happy with the stuff as they uses it regularly. He showed me a large book full of different resins that are available, so maybe the stuff he uses is a bit different than the stuff your guy is talking about?