Supplying Namibia’s Boatbuilders & Composites Trade
Walvis Bay builds and repairs boats — GRP workboats, ski-boats and the endless maintenance of the fishing fleet — and a composites trade has grown around it, from mining-equipment linings to custom fabrication. Swachem’s coastal depot stocks the full lay-up basket: NCS 901 GP and 991 isophthalic polyester, clear casting resin, Sicomin epoxy systems, gelcoats, chopped strand mat, woven roving and surfacing tissue, Butanox and MEKP catalysts, PVA release and Ram Wax, pigment pastes, Cabosil and talc fillers, Coremat, and the acetone, rollers and brushes that finish the job.
The problems we solve for this sector
- Mid-lay-up material shortages — coastal stock beats two-day inland freight
- Resin behaviour swinging between hot summer sheds and cold fog mornings
- Osmosis and water attack on hulls built with the wrong resin
- Fleet repair deadlines during quota season
- Mould-making and release failures wasting tooling hours
On the ground in Namibia
- Served from the Walvis Bay depot on 4th Street East — the boatyard cluster is effectively local trade.
- Coastal temperature swings (hot sheds, cold fog) demand catalyst-ratio discipline; our counter gives seasonal starting ratios.
- Fishing-fleet repair peaks with quota seasons — yards keep standing arrangements so materials never gate a slipway slot.
Typical order: Typical order: a Walvis Bay yard mid-refit drawing a 210 L drum of NCS 991, 450 g CSM and woven roving, Butanox, Pool Blue gelcoat, PVA release, two boxes of rollers and 25 L acetone — picked and delivered to the yard the same day.
What boatbuilding & composites buys from us
Category guides written for this sector — the products, the Namibian conditions, and the questions buyers actually ask.
Fibreglass & Resin Products for Boatbuilding & Composites
This is the pairing the Walvis Bay depot was practically built for: the boatyard cluster and its materials. NCS polyester by the drum, Sicomin epoxy for the premium and timber-composite work, mat and roving by the roll, gelcoats, catalysts and release systems — stocked at the coast where the hulls are, with the counter knowledge of two decades supplying the same yards.
Sector guide →
Solvents for Boatbuilding & Composites
A composites shop runs on acetone the way an office runs on coffee — tool cleaning, surface prep, gelcoat wipe-down — with styrene monomer and specialist solvents alongside. Swachem’s Walvis Bay stock keeps the yards supplied by the 25-litre, with the flammables discipline coastal sheds full of resin and glass dust genuinely require.
Sector guide →
Adhesives for Boatbuilding & Composites
Between laminating sessions, a boatyard bonds constantly: bedding hardware, joining components, bonding timber to glass, sealing deck penetrations. Swachem stocks the marine-adjacent bonding set — structural epoxies, polyurethane adhesives, bonding pastes and silicones — beside the resin range, so the yard’s adhesive logic matches its laminate logic.
Sector guide →
Miscellaneous & Workshop for Boatbuilding & Composites
The consumables wall decides a yard’s daily rhythm: paddle rollers that de-air properly, brushes worth loading with gelcoat, mould release waxes, cotton waste by the bale, WD-40 on every moving thing near salt water. Swachem’s Walvis Bay depot stocks the composites consumables beside the drums — the difference between a lay-up that flows and one that improvises.
Sector guide →
Woodoc Wood Treatment for Boatbuilding & Composites
Boat timber at the Namibian coast lives the hardest wood-life in the country: salt fog, UV glare off the lagoon, washdowns and working abuse. The Woodoc marine and water-borne ranges Swachem distributes are the yard-grade answer for gunwales, cabin soles, rails and brightwork — penetrating protection that maintains with a coat, not a strip-down.
Sector guide →
Boatbuilding & Composites supply: your questions answered
Which resin should a hull actually be built or repaired with?
Below the waterline, isophthalic polyester (NCS 991) is the minimum — GP resin is for canopies and moulds, not immersion service, because osmosis finds general-purpose laminates within seasons. For premium or timber-composite work, Sicomin epoxy delivers the adhesion and water resistance that justify its price, and it is the correct repair system over old epoxy hulls. Match the gelcoat to the resin system and job — and if in doubt, bring the job spec to the counter; misresined hulls are the most expensive mistake in this trade.
How do we manage catalyst ratios through Walvis Bay’s temperature swings?
Respect the shed temperature, not the calendar. A fog-cold morning at 14 °C may need the full 2% MEKP and even accelerator adjustment; the same shed at 32 °C after lunch will gel a 2% mix in the bucket. Standard coastal discipline: catalyse small batches, log ratio against temperature until your shop has its own table, shade the resin drums, and never chase a slow cure with extra catalyst mid-laminate — it embrittles the part. We stock Butanox M50 and MEKP NA 2 plus accelerator, and the counter will give you a seasonal starting point.
What do you stock for mould-making and release?
The tooling chain: GP resin and CSM for the mould shell, Cabosil to thicken fillets and tooling paste, PVA release agent (the red fluid film) and Ram Wax silicone release for the mould faces, plus Dragon Skin silicones for flexible moulds and detailed plugs. Release failures waste more tooling hours than any other error — fresh PVA over properly waxed, fully cured surfaces is cheap insurance. For one-off plugs, our talc filler bulks fairing compounds economically.
Can a small operator — repairs, canopies, custom parts — get trade treatment, or only the big yards?
Trade is trade at our counter, whether you buy a 210-litre drum or a 5-litre can. Small fabricators and repair shops get the same technical support, the same genuine NCS and Sicomin materials, and pack sizes that match their cash flow — resin from 5 L, mat by the kilogram, catalyst in small packs, fibreglass repair kits for the smallest jobs. As volumes grow, pricing steps with you. Half of Walvis Bay’s composites businesses started as one person with a repair kit from this depot.
Serving Boatbuilding & Composites from our Walvis Bay branch
Swachem Walvis Bay · 4th Street East, Walvis Bay · Tel 064 204 865 · Monday – Friday, 08:00 – 17:00
Other industries we supply
Supplying boatbuilding & composites across Namibia
Primary branch: Swachem Walvis Bay (064 204 865). Consolidated deliveries, SDS documentation and account facilities for the sector.