When it comes to contemporary wooden boat construction and repair, epoxy is essential. As versatile as good marine epoxies may be, no single formula is best suited for every job. We are big fans of Thixo Flex, a flexible variant of TotalBoat’s Thixo, a thickened epoxy.Thixo Flex has several favorable attributes: it can be used on oily woods, dry, damp, or wet surfaces, and a wide array of materials including (according to the Total Boat website): “fiberglass, aluminum and other metals, glass and ceramics, and most plastics, including ABS, PVC, HDPE, LDPE, and polycarbonate.” It can be sanded, drilled, primed, painted, and is resistant to vibration and shock.A flexible epoxy becomes especially useful when joining dissimilar materials. Dissimilar wood species, for example, will expand and contract at different rates when affected by moisture or temperature changes. An epoxy that cannot move with such variations may lead to failed bonds. Thixo Flex—fully cured—creates a bond very nearly as strong as regular Thixo while offering 15 percent more elongation.
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