Heads-Up - Markolon Problems

Overextended- before you get too jacked up on EZ2CY, just make sure you don't have any oyster-shell-dropping seagulls in your vicinity!:grin:

Then your warranty is with and thru your installer because the maker of
Makrolon will not warranty it for recreational use or for panels less than .125".

Look at post #1 in this thread, mid ways down under "conditions". That is verbatim from the Sheffield warranty statement.

Carver370 said:

My quote for EZ2CY was..... are you ready for this? 6,500.00 more than the Makrolon I had installed.

Click to expand...

Ok, replace Makrolon every two years for the next ten years (in Frank's case - you may have better results) and we will talk then. Maybe you saved?? What I can tell you is the folks that own this brand (EZ2CY) stand by it, the materials, and the people they endorse 100% and then some. I tend to stand by good people that take the time to build a good brand and back up the brand with solid quality control and customer service.

Not saying Makrolon is a bad brand - just saying how I feel about EZ2CY....sure you can buy a bayliner or tahoe cheaper than a Sea Ray but I won't go down the road of "you get what you pay for"...

:huh:

I'm glad I just did a search on Makrolon as I was getting ready to have some canvas work done. Will now be a little more cautious on this choice.

Paul

Polycarbonate is one of the worst plastics for "environmental stress cracking" or crazing.

it is an amorphous polymer with the about the worst chemical resistance of all plastics. This is also what gives it its great impact and optical properties and why it is used in sunglasses. But without a protective coating, PC is also one of the softest and easiest to scratch plastics.

Lexan - makrolon = all just trade names for the same thing.

Hello Everyone,

Reading through this thread I see there's concern regarding the use of a hard coated Makrolon Polycarbonate (AR - abrasion resistant) in a marine application. For the most part, I agree with your postings. Makrolon AR was developed for material to be used as architectural glazing. In this type of application, the coating is warrantied for 7 years.

However, the silicone-like hard coating with it's embedded UV blockers, just wasn't robust enough to meet all the demands of every marine location which is why conditions were placed in the warranty that excluded transportation and recreational and off-road applications. That said, the material does seem to work well in the northern (low UV) latitudes, but it struggled in the southern high UV zone. The double dose of direct UV from the sun as well as reflective UV bouncing off the water caused the coating to frequently fail prematurely.

The team at Makrolon PC heard about this issue from boat owners and in early 2018 developed a new hard coated product called Marine 5, specifically made for marine applications. The coating is loaded with heavy duty UV blockers to a point where it carries a 5 year minimum warranty for marine applications. Underneath the coating, it's still the same tough, crystal clear, high optical polycarbonate which makes it a great choice for canvas enclosures. Information can be found here on Covestro's website if you're interested: https://www.sheets.covestro.com/en/Products/Americas/Makrolon/Makrolon-M5.aspx

Marine 5 comes in 0.060" and 0.080" gauge, large sheets, and the coating can take a gentle bend (20" and 30" bend radius respectfully).

Hope this helps clear up the misconception on using PC in a marine environment.

Happy boating!

I was looking into this several months back, and the cost comparison between Macrolon 5 (marine) and AR was 3x the price per sheet. I also found most suppliers and fabricators in the North East deal were dealing in AR only (this could be the cost , or that AR is good enough in this location....or just that M5 is new).

At any rate, I fabricated a full enclosure using AR this season (2018) and will see how it holds up.

True, Marine 5 is more costly than standard Makrolon AR sheet, but it's specifically due to the premium UV resistant coating that's applied onto the sheet. It's fully expected and warrantied to last a minimum of 5 years which reduces its costs over the long haul. Overall, sheet costs in the manufacturing of canvas enclosures are likely to be one of the smaller costs to create these enclosures (with labor costs being the largest by far - likely 10x the sheet costs).

I suspect you're correct - one reason AR is still being promoted in the industry over Marine 5 is due to the newness of this product. AR has been around for many, many years, whereas Marine 5 was just launch Jan 2018 and the word is still getting out. Again, AR is a good product, but has demonstrated mix results and is just not suitable for all marine geographical locations. The manufacturer should get the word out to canvas enclosure sewing shops, not just their plastic distributors, and promote the longevity of the product over AR.

Some additional information on this topic that I posted a while back. Based on my research, if you are south (ie Florida) and/or the glass will spend most of it's time facing south or west, I would not go with AR. Spend the money and go with something more appropriate.

http://clubsearay.com/index.php?thr...-material-used-for-windows-eg-makrolon.87375/