keith, I helped my son repair deteriorated stringers which support the motor mounts for the 454 c.i. inboard engine in his 23' Baja Hammer last summer. Though it was "runnier" than any other epoxy I had ever handled I don't feel it would have soaked into the end grain in a hard walnut gunstock's inletting. Is there some other type that would be even thinner, and that would penetrate better?
What we used was a West Marine product, and we bought a full gallon can of the resin, plus the hardener. If I can depict this scenario, his boat has two stringers that run fore and aft and the engine mounts sit on them. They are wood underneath, but covered with the interior bottom finish of fiberglass. The repeated torquing of the engine had loosened the bolts that go down through the mount, through the fiberglass, and into the stringer .....and the resulting looseness had allowed water to get down and around the bolts, rotting a big pocket in the stringer underneath the fiberglass. We just poured the epoxy down into the bolt hole until it wouldn't take any more, then pushed the bolt down into it, allowing the epoxy to cure with the bolt in place. The only alternative repair was so expensive as to have been not even an option.
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--penetrating-epoxy--P015023724 It is described as super-thin, but I have to say ........... only compared to regular epoxy. I think the reason cyanoacrylate is so popular for sealing and stabilizing inletted areas is that there is practically no buildup, that would require further inletting. I can see the penetrating epoxy being great for a bedding type situation. But, it would seem to me to leave a buildup on the surface that would have to be removed to re-inlet the lock, or tang, etc. Am I not understanding how you use it?
Thanks, SRH
