Baptistries — What you need to know when purchasing.
This will be a multi-part series explaining baptistries, their construction and purchase.
Part 1: The modern Fiberglass Baptistry.
So your church needs a new baptistry and you have not purchased one in the past?
This series will help explain some of the complexities and make it easier for you to order and communicate with your installer or contractor.
Todays baptistry is made from fiberglass with a gel coat. These items are not stock items and are made to order. Typical lead time on a baptistry is 4 to 6 weeks. Keep this in mind when starting your project so your baptistry can make it in time.
All fiberglass is the same right? Wrong.
What we casually call fiberglass is actually glass reinforced plastic with a gel coat on top. It is made from fiberglass strands coated with plastic and then top coated with gel coat.
So what’s the rub?
The resin, catalyst and gelcoat used to make the fiberglass piece need to be matched. In other words you use type x catalyst with type x resin and type x gelcoat for the best results. The materials are made to work together and normally come from the same manufacturer. Will un-matched resins and catalysts work? Sure, they will “work” but will not yield the best results.
It is common in the fiberglass world to buy resin and catalyst at auctions, inventory buyouts and other sources to save money. This means you end up with a fiberglass product that has its components coming from different companies.
Kind of like putting a Chrysler alternator on a Chevy.
The fiberglass products we sell are made by FSI, they buy the best chemical components designed to complement each other.
