Why WEST SYSTEM® Brand epoxy?

All epoxies are not created equal. Epoxy brands can vary widely in their formulations, quality of raw materials and their suitability for marine environments. It's easy to market an off-the-shelf industrial epoxy product as a marine epoxy, or formulate an epoxy with one or two favorable characteristics, while sacrificing other important characteristics.

It's much more difficult balancing all of the physical and mechanical properties necessary for a versatile, high-quality marine epoxy. (performance diagram) Defining an epoxy's performance criteria, and designing a formula to meet those criteria requires good chemistry, rigorous test programs, skillful shop work and direct experience with today's high-performance boats and other composite structures.

Balanced epoxy performance

WEST SYSTEM epoxy is designed for boatbuilding and repair by experienced builders and formulators who know the engineering and the chemistry required for today's high-performance composite structures. During more than thirty years of developing marine epoxies, we have continued to formulate, test and improve WEST SYSTEM resin and hardeners to create the most reliable and well balanced epoxy system available today.

Potential resin and hardener formulas, ingredients and combinations are tested to compare fatigue strength, compression strength, glass transition temperature, and peak exotherm. Additionally, qualified samples are tested for hardness, tensile strength, tensile elongation, tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, heat deflection temperature, impact resistance and moisture exclusion effectiveness. Thorough testing such as this insures that any change in a formula will improve one or more of a product's characteristics without diminishing any characteristics.