West System G/Flex 655 Thickened Epoxy

[markvone]

I needed to epoxy a few wood blocks in the boat. One for a fire extinguisher mount and four for 12v DC fan bases. These blocks had to be bonded one at a time because I need to wedge each one up and I only have a single bottle jack. I usually think of West system epoxy in the cans with the pumps for jobs like this. This epoxy, when used anywhere you are fighting gravity, needs to be thickened so that it doesn't run. I'd have to make up five different batches, one for each block. When I looked in my epoxy box , I saw that I already had West System G/Flex 655 thickened epoxy that I had forgotten about.
For most small to medium bonding jobs, this stuff is way easier to use. It's already thickened so all you have to do is squeeze out a line from each tube onto wax paper, mix and spread on your job.

Mark

 

[bigd14]

I used GFlex to cover over the keel joint which I had some minor gaps in. Thickened GFlex to fill area, added one layer of fiberglass then faired over with more thickened GFlex. 2 years later at haul out last week there were no cracks or evidence of any keel movement. Only one data point but I like the stuff.

 

[sharonov]

+1 for GFlex. One-to-one mix ratio, small portable no-spill (unlike regular west system jars) containers, does not crack. I use it everywhere. Just throw away internal unlabeled caps. Easy to mix those and poison the whole bottle. Ask me how I know ;-)

 

[gabriel]

Very good product and easy to use but i find the thickner is some sort of gelling agent vs thickening with something like 403 fibers which seems to make the epoxy harder/durable.

 

[Tin Kicker]

While GFlex is good, I went to the TotalBoat equivalent which is more like the GFlex 650 than thicker 655. The TotalBoat is slightest stiffer when cured (modulus 150,000 vs 193,000, so not too different) and has much better tensile strength (3,440 psi vs 5,610 psi) and better flex strength (5,190 psi vs 9,050 psi) once cured. Other properties are very similar.

TotalBoat Flexible Epoxy Adhesive

High-strength two-part flexible epoxy adhesive for permanent & waterproof structural bonds on wood, fiberglass, metal, glass, and plastic.

www.totalboat.com

btw - This is what I used to repair the hull/deck split after the previous owner's storm-related rubbing on a post and it filled the gaps well.

 

[gabriel]

While GFlex is good, I went to the TotalBoat equivalent which is more like the GFlex 650 than thicker 655. The TotalBoat is slightest stiffer when cured (modulus 150,000 vs 193,000, so not too different) and has much better tensile strength (3,440 psi vs 5,610 psi) and better flex strength (5,190 psi vs 9,050 psi) once cured. Other properties are very similar.

TotalBoat Flexible Epoxy Adhesive

High-strength two-part flexible epoxy adhesive for permanent & waterproof structural bonds on wood, fiberglass, metal, glass, and plastic.

www.totalboat.com

btw - This is what I used to repair the hull/deck split after the previous owner's storm-related rubbing on a post and it filled the gaps well.

I’ve had a good experience with total boat products, especially their barrier coat.