muffler repair

The Vertaflo muffler on my 94 Ski Nautique started leaking at the seam between the main body and the down tube. I was easily able to repair the leaking spot while the muffler was in place by using GFlex 655 thickened epoxy from West Marine. It comes a little thicker than regular GFlex and I would compare it to a thick cold honey in consistency. Still worked wetting out the fiberglass mat. Didn't run or sag and I didn't have to tape over the repair with wax paper or anything to keep the mat and epoxy in place.

Unfortunately when I ran the boat I found it was leaking in another section of that seam. Testing the seam I found that there was almost no lay up thickness at all over at least half of the seam ( I'm amazed it lasted 22 years with that deficient assembly). So I went ahead and pulled the muffler, opened up the seam and laid up fiberglass mat all of the way around. The GFlex 655 was so easy to work with , no drips, runs or sagging on the complex shape, that I thought I should post so anyone working on their muffler could consider it. Particularly if you don't want to pull the muffler.

I don't want to sound like I work for West Marine! But at this moment they are at $25.99 for 4 oz. I have epoxy resin, micro balloons and fumed silica already. But this 655 is pretty cool and wet out the mat well. It was easy to apply upside down and stayed in place. I can wait on polyester to start to gel and get sticky, but that isn't easy with epoxy. So I was stoked with how the G Flex stuck right off. Smear a little on your glove finger and it wipes down into a nice layer without fibers sticking up.

I use regular G Flex to bond odd materials like cross linked PE foam to CF/epoxy laminate, so I splurged on the 655. If there had only been one leak I would have never have pulled the muffler.

Anyone know how to mix something similar with regular epoxy?

West Marine.........

In a former life managed a number of high volume marine supply stores in CT & NY. Originally all Bliss Marine ( old-school New Englanders oughta remember), E & B Marine (largest national chain at the time) bought Bliss, and all Bliss stores changed names overnight. (E & B also bought Goldbergs Marine then, which any from the city or the island should remember...)..Ironic since had also been in discussion with West about a HQ position.....thinking. nothing could be cooler than living on the Big Sur......). same timeframe also interviewed with BoatUS, first time ever flew to an interview... .

Yeah.yeah ...Blah blah blah..... Point being, I know of what I speak....and .every store i ever ran the success was due to a extremely specialized and knowledgeable sales staff, critical in an affluent Sound sail/yacht market where an average single sale could typically be in the many $1000's with. SatNav's and all that. Decades later....., I've been to a number of West Marines and seem to always leave disappointed and unimpressed. Some rudimentary product knowledge (if that) and that's about it..........,

That being said...any stockbroker wizards out there? I've got an E & B Marine Stock Certificate issued 1993 and have had no luck figuring out it it has any value.....


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I haven't tried the US Composites thick resin. It would be interesting to see if it has the same "stickiness" level as the GFlex. The website says it isn't good at wetting out a glass layer, but I bet it works as well as the G Flex. It just took a little effort. The 4 0z of the 655 did the whole repair and I have about a third of the epoxy left over.

West Systems epoxy is well made and there are definitely better deals on it than you may find at West Marine. I usually use regular epoxy from Fiberlay, but they had some issues for a time with the amount of amine flush generated by the formulation. I was able to pick up a gallon of West Systems Epoxy for 20% off at Rockler with a coupon. Sweet!

Still impressed with the physical properties of the 655 and the ability to apply it to the joint without it pulling away as I worked around the down tube. Worth the cost for me.

Have you tried the G Flex? I work with fumed silica (cabosil) and while it is a great thickening agent I don't get anything like the stickiness exhibited by the G Flex. Not for everyone or every application, but very useful for me. Maybe I'm a spendthrift. I made the cf hydrofoil board in the shot I posted so it isn't like I'm totally clueless about how to use epoxy, well, maybe :)

When using thickened resins and getting them to wet out, I've always found a light coat of resin on the surface works great. I'll mix the resin, brush the surface with it, mix in whatever thickener and then apply it.

I definitely get your point regarding cabosil. I use fumed silica a lot when bonding the layers of my laminate board cores. Great to be able to flip over a vertically stripped birch sheet after it's been coated with thickened epoxy. But in my experience thickened epoxy won't "glue" down a sheet on a surface that's curved much. I still use fumed silica thickened epoxy when making board cores. Not so much a price related decision, more of a choice predicated by the ability to spread the mixture thinly and for how it squeezes out when vacuum bagged. The lack of stickiness to the curved surface being bonded is a bit of a pain as I line up pieces. For my muffler I was looking for an epoxy that would hold the matt tightly into the joint while I worked around the tube without shifting or pulling away from the inside.

I don't have a big emotional investment in this. But I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use for this application. Just thought I would pass along my experience.