Need to coat something on all sides? Long ago, retired Tech Advisor Captain James R. Watson creating these handy instructions (and charming sketches) of his favorite tricks for epoxy coating on all sides of an item. Continue reading
Category Archives: Coating
Clear Coating with 207 Special Clear Hardener
By Terry Monville – Technical Advisor
Not that long ago, clear coating with epoxy meant that you were finishing a natural wood canoe or kayak, or the teak toe rails on your boat. Today, WEST SYSTEM 105 Resin and 207 Special Clear Hardener is used for clear coating in many different ways. Regardless of the project, there are some basic techniques to follow when epoxy coating and a few pitfalls to avoid. Continue reading
Refinishing a Wood Strip Canoe
By Tom Pawlak
About 30 years ago, I built an 18′ wood strip canoe. At the time, my family was young and I could only work on it intermittently. Over the course of six months, I had faired my mold frames, applied the redwood strips, faired the outside of the hull with a keen eye and applied the fiberglass cloth. Two months later I decided to take it off the mold to fair and fiberglass the inside. To my horror, the exterior hull bottom had a big dimple in the middle when removed from the forms. I immediately knew the cause. The humidity in my garage had skyrocketed since the outside of the hull was finished with fiberglass and epoxy. The unsealed inside of the hull had probably gained 4-5% in moisture content since the outside was fiberglassed. Continue reading
Sunfish Wood Restoration
By Don Gutzmer
During the fall of 2016, I took a technical call from a customer who owned a Sunfish Sailboat. He lived in the area and was looking for help repairing a few minor gel coat cracks and restoring his wooden daggerboard and rudder. I told him I would be happy to help because this would be a good opportunity to write an article about using WEST SYSTEM 105 Resin and 207 Special Clear Hardener for the wood restoration part of his project. The mahogany daggerboard and rudder had weathered over the years because of only being varnished. Continue reading
Sealing and Priming
This article is Lesson 4 of a series. See bottom of page for links to additional articles in this series.—Ed.
The way a finish ages has everything to do with the way it is anchored to the wood. Sealers and primers are often taken for granted; we simply read the can and follow directions. There are so many reasons for using a sealer and many methods for applying them. Let’s look at what we learned while sealing Sparks, the electric launch I built. Continue reading
Bubble-Free Coating
By Mike Barnard & Don Gutzmer
WEST SYSTEM® epoxy has long been a popular choice for clear coating table tops. It works great as a buildup coat and a moisture barrier. It also showcases the beauty of wood grain and fiber weaves. Formulated with boat building in mind, WEST SYSTEM epoxy is not intended as a final finish coating. You may find it a bit more difficult to achieve a perfect surface with epoxy than with a coating formulated specifically for final finishing, such as varnish.
However, WEST SYSTEM offers some distinct advantages. It builds up quickly: a single coat of 105 Epoxy Resin® with 207 Special Clear Hardener® offers about four times the thickness of a typical coat of polyurethane varnish. WEST SYSTEM epoxy is also an excellent moisture barrier, stabilizing the surface so your final finish coat will look beautiful longer. Continue reading
Saving Your 801 Roller Frame
By J.R. Watson
When you’ve completed a coating task using a 801 Roller Frame and 800 Roller Cover, what next? The roller frame is reusable. But if you leave it resting in the pan while the residual epoxy cures, you‘ll probably ruin both the reusable pan and the roller frame. If you lay the roller and frame on a work bench, it will be stuck there the next day.
Setting the roller on a piece of plastic will bring you closer to success but in any instance where the roller frame rests on a surface while the epoxy cures, the cover will accumulate Continue reading
Varnish Over Epoxy
By Tom Pawlak
The appeal of well-maintained, varnished wood trim on boats is hard to deny. It evokes our past and we respect the owner because of all the time and effort it takes to apply and maintain the varnish. Continue reading
Comparing Surface Preparation Techniques for Paints and Primers
By Joe Parker
Before you begin a project, it is a good idea to consider all of your options. Information about products or methods you may want to use is often available on product labels, from manufacturers, or your own experience. However, many times the information you need to make good choices is just not available. Then your best option is to test. In our most recent renovation, we had to figure out what to test for and how to do it. Continue reading
Testing House Paint Primers
By Tom Pawlak
Gougeon Brothers, Inc. regularly engages in testing to support those who use our epoxy in architectural applications, both in new construction and repairs. In the past, we have tested the compatibility of house paint primers over WEST SYSTEM® epoxy and found that a variety of primers worked well. Latex primers especially performed well when applied over cured epoxy, even when the epoxy was marginally prepared prior to painting (Epoxyworks 7, Spring 1996).
Our goal in a recent series of tests was to identify primer paints that worked successfully over WEST SYSTEM epoxy with minimal surface preparation. Specifically, Continue reading