Author Archives: ewadmin

Arundal 27 underway

The Landing School Presents the Arundel 27

The Arundel 27, designed to the highest standards by Steve Dalzell, is a handsome day-tripper. Her traditional appearance is the result of cold-molded construction with WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy. Laminated layers of marine plywood and Western Red Cedar form the hull, and the transom is built with mahogany. This construction makes the hull stiffer than fiberglass boats but just as easily maintained. Continue reading

Dalotel Aircraft

Resurrection of the Dalotel DM 165

By Ray Ordorica

Above: The Dalotel DM 165 in flight.

I’ve had a strong interest in airplanes since I was a kid. I had always built model airplanes and went to air shows as often as possible. I loved the “warbirds,” and built many models of them, and of other more-common aircraft. Of course, I had always wanted to fly, to become a pilot, but for many reasons, I couldn’t make that happen. During my college years, my interest in aircraft waned, but after college, I moved to Alaska, and of course, aircraft are part of the Alaskan lifestyle. Continue reading

large wooden vessel repair

Thunderbird

A legendary commuter yacht

by Mike Barker

Above: The legendary commuter yacht THUNDERBIRD, underway on Lake Tahoe. She was built at Huskins Boat Works in Bay City, Michigan, which later became the manufacturing site of WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy.

A little history lesson. Last year a cousin of the Gougeon Brothers, David Huskins and his family, visited the Thunderbird Lodge on Lake Tahoe. He sent us a couple of photos of Thunderbird, the legendary commuter yacht designed by John L. Hacker in 1939. It was commissioned by George Whittell and built by Huskins Boat Works in Bay City, Michigan. Continue reading

epoxy testing is performed in the GBI lab

Testing, Testing, 123

by Julie Jezowski

Above: the state-of-the-art lab where Gougeon chemists perform much of the company’s epoxy testing.

By now most of you know that we are the manufacturers of WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy. But you may not know what is involved in the manufacturing and more specifically, the formulating of WEST SYSTEM. It’s not just slapping some chemicals together and then packaging it up into a pretty box. To date, we have performed thousands of tests and generated thousands of test results. Continue reading

Emergency rudder repair with WEST SYSTEM Epoxy and fiberglass cloth.

G/flex Saves the Race

by Grace Ombry

Above: Robert Patenaude performs emergency rudder repairs with G/flex so he can get back into the regatta and take first place.

Robert Patenaude had ten miles left to reach the finish line in the Bermuda One-Two offshore race when a 30-ton whale hit Perseverance, his C&C 41, seriously damaging the rudder. Not content to drop out of the competition, he called on his racer friends to help him remove the 160 lb, 9′-long rudder from the boat while it was still in the water. He reasoned that if the contenders in the Puma or Vendee Globe races could make major repairs without dropping out of a race, he could too. Continue reading

Fifty Plus, a Quiet Times powerboat

Building the Fifty Plus

by Grace Ombry
Epoxyworks 26

Cover Photo: Carl Puehl’s FIFTY PLUS, a modification of the Ted Brewer design, Quite Times.

A 37′ powerboat is a bit of a luxury for a self-employed handyman and jack-of-all-trades like Carl Puehl. But he’d always wanted to build a boat, and he decided to fill the gap between what he wanted and what he could afford. Continue reading

Summer in the City

The MOMA Beatfuse project

All of the seams on the MOMA Beatfuse pool bottom were sealed using 3″ cloth tape and three coats of epoxy.

by Jerry Briggs

Each year The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center conducts what is known as the P.S.1 / MOMA Young Architects Program. The competitors vie for the opportunity to build a temporary architectural project in the 17,000 square foot outdoor galleries of P.S.1 in Queens, New York. The structure serves as a venue for the popular outdoor music series, “Warm Up” which runs from June through September each year and boasts attendance in excess of 100,000 visitors per season. Continue reading

Building an Ecosystem for Salmon

Salmon growing up in a custom-built progressive ecosystem, ready for release.

By Ken Filipiak

The science teacher at the school where my wife works (West Ottawa Macatawa Bay School in Holland, Michigan) called me for help with his leaking aquarium which had flooded his classroom. This was no ordinary aquarium; it was one he had custom-built to show a progressive ecosystem—a brook to a stream to a pond for raising salmon. Continue reading

Great Lakes Boatbuilding School Partners with Van Dam

Advanced Boatbuilding Course

The Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville, Michigan is partnering with nationally known Van Dam Custom Boats of Boyne City, Michigan to develop the school’s second-year advanced boatbuilding course.  Continue reading

A tapered tube section joined to a curved section.

Building Composite Tubes

With WEST SYSTEM and braided fibers

by Captain James R. Watson

Above: A tapered composite tube section joined to a curved section.

Composite tubes are used on boats for hardtops, T-tops, Biminis, dodgers, bows, bow and stern pulpits, rails, canoe, and kayak paddle shafts, boat hooks, and so on. Composite tubes built with epoxy and reinforcing fibers offer advantages over metal in terms of lightweight, custom shapes and sizes, and corrosion resistance.

Continue reading