Category Archives: Boat Mods

8—The finished hatch.

Installing a Removable Hatch

by Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

Above: Meade’s removable hatch, installed on the Gougmaran.

Meade Gougeon installed the original hatches on his Gougmaran, but he wasn’t convinced he had selected the ideal locations. Prior to installation, he thought about how difficult it would be to remove and relocate them if he used one of the flexible adhesive/ sealants made for this purpose. There had to be a better way, one that would allow hardware to be easily removed yet seal out water. Continue reading →

non-skid catalyzed gelcoat

Repair Your Non-Skid Surface

With a flexible non-skid mold

by Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

If the patterned non-skid on your production-built fiberglass boat needs repair, you may be interested to know that flexible molds are available for making professional-looking repairs. Continue reading →

repairing machined holes in fiberglass

Repairing Machined Holes in Fiberglass

Technical Staff Report

Above: When repairing machined holes in fiberglass, whether screw or a through-hull fitting like the one for the pictured seacock, your strategy will depend on the size, purpose, and location of the hole.

First, we will classify the types of holes we are discussing as ones that are round and have been machined, probably with a drill, as opposed to punctures and cracks incurred from damage. The reasons they may need to be repaired are numerous: refitting, resizing, removing obsolete equipment, or mistakes. When repairing machined holes in fiberglass boats, the challenge is to determine an appropriate repair strategy. You want a repair that is safe and adequate, but also realistic. You want to ensure that the repair is strong enough for the anticipated worst-case load and err on the side of being conservative. Other things to consider include the costs in time and money and the skill required to perform the repair. Continue reading →

Bottom paint is applied to the exterior after the fairing material is sealed with epoxy.

Installing a Bow Thruster

Above: After installing the bow thruster, the fairing compound is sealed with epoxy, and bottom paint is applied to the boat’s exterior.

Island Heights, New Jersey architect, John B. Wilson, needed to install a bow thruster in his 26′ Albermarle sport fisherman, using WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy products. The toughest part of the job was cutting through the 1″ solid hull laminate. After trying several tools, he had success with a Roto Zip™ with a ½” carbide bit by making two ½” deep passes. The only other difficult job was cutting away a portion of the floor in the storage area under the V-berth to make room for the 5″ diameter thrust tube. Continue reading →

Building a Leeboard Bracket

By Robert Monroe

Dave Hatton and I had a January trip planned to the Everglades and the Florida Keys. We decided to use a Feathercraft™ double folding kayak with a sailing rig, but were not very happy with its sailing performance to weather. It has a simple reaching/downwind sail and no effective lateral resistance to give it any bite in the water. It’s a neat boat, but we decided we could improve its performance without too much effort. We would start with a leeboard and look at the rig later. Continue reading →

Evolving the Sailing Canoe Rig for Cruising

By Meade Gougeon — GBI Founder

The original sailing rigs on both Serendipity and Puffin are Hugh Horton’s sophisticated version of the old, but efficient sliding gunter rig (Figure 1). Hugh had put a lot of thought into sailing rigs for canoes and had chosen the gunter because it best fit several needs that he considered mandatory for a cruising canoe. Continue reading →

Nose for Speed

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor

Some people just have a knack for things. We commonly say that someone may have an “eye” for beauty, an “ear” for music, or a “taste” for art, and now you can have a…“nose” for speed. Nose cones on outboard and sterndrive lower units are common in the world of boat racing. Whether it be outboard hydroplane racing, outboard performance craft (tunnel hulls), offshore powerboats, or customized recreational boats, all have factory-built “speedo” lower units, which are very fast, but expensive. However, adding a nose cone to your existing lower unit is affordable, quick, and fun to do. Continue reading →

New Window Frames for STARDUST

Casting aluminum- filled epoxy frames

By Joe Parker

To prep our 30-year-old Allied Seabreeze 35 for a paint job, we had to remove the window frames. These frames were cast aluminum and original equipment. The outer frames were thicker and had not been broken. However, once we began to remove the inner frames, it was obvious that they had been removed for previous paint jobs. The aluminum castings had been broken and repaired by simply gluing them back together with an unidentifiable filled adhesive. Continue reading →

Ventilation

Keeping your boat dry for livability and longevity

By Joe Parker

You decide to head down to your boat to take advantage of a beautiful Saturday afternoon in late August. You haven’t had a chance to use your boat in about three or four weeks, and you are really looking forward to catching up with your friends at the harbor. Continue reading →

The Re-commissioning of Adagio

By Meade Gougeon — GBI Founder

Epoxyworks 8

Cover Photo: ADAGIO was racing with fast company in the 1996 Port Huron to Mackinac Race.

It was after eight months of building that we originally launched Adagio, our 35-foot cruising trimaran. It was on July 6, 1970, and she was then a unique boat in three respects.

First, she was the first large wooden boat entirely bonded together with epoxy using no permanent fastenings. While this is common today, it was revolutionary stuff back when adhesives for wooden boatbuilding (including epoxies) were looked upon as a backup to traditional wood fasteners like nails, screws and bolts. Continue reading →