Paddle Construction Materials Resins Used in Paddles Epoxy, polyester, and vinyl ester resins are the main building blocks of the composite boat and accessory industry. Epoxies are considered the best by most, but often have severely limiting disadvantages in some uses. Most of the really good ones are expensive, toxic to use, and hard to work with.
Polyesters are much more common, and much less expensive.
The mechanical strengths of most polyesters are also significantly below that of epoxies. Vinyl esters are basically polyesters with a vinyl rubber compound attached to the molecules. The vinyl component greatly enhances strength, durability and the adhesive qualities of the matrix. It brings many strength related characteristics up to the levels of even the better epoxies. The cost is reasonable and workability is very good.