If your swim platform is experiencing water penetration, a repair or even a rebuild could be in your near future. We’ll show you how to measure the damage, and perform a successful repair that will last for years to come.
Typically, when a fastener fails on a boat, it pulls out of the wood or fiberglass that it was screwed into. There are many causes for this failure: shock loading, fatigued from being pulled on one too many times, or moisture softening the wood. Let’s take a look at how using WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy can improve the holding power of a fastener in wood to give you fewer troubles on the water.
After 20-plus years of vibration and pounding on the water, the molded plastic console on my 2001 Lund® boat was riddled with stress cracks and broken pieces. All of the fastener-mounting points were stripped out or broken. As often happens with older boat components, replacement parts were no longer available. I’d have to repair the console myself.
Most epoxy systems can cause skin irritation or allergic skin reactions. Hardeners can be particularly severe skin irritants and sometimes can even be moderately corrosive to skin tissue. Consequently, you should always protect your skin from epoxy with protective clothing and gloves.
Before jumping into building a strip kayak, I wanted to find out all I could about the process. To begin, I read the book Kayakcraft: Fine Woodstrip Kayak Construction by Ted Moores cover-to-cover and referred to it frequently during construction.
If you’ve ever used Pinterest, then you know that it is filled with projects that give a false sense of confidence in your own artistic abilities. Hence, the wildly entertaining “Pinterest fails”. Mindlessly scrolling one day, when I probably should have been doing something productive, I stumbled across a rustic wood wall art piece. A little epoxy, some scrap wood, and I can build that. No problem.
Every year we get questions regarding how to spray WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy. Some people want to know how to thin epoxy so it comes out of a spray gun better while others want to know what Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is required for spraying epoxy safely. We give them all the same answer: Don’t do it! In short, epoxy is extremely hazardous when sprayed. Continue reading
When should you use yellow glue (also called wood glue or carpenter’s glue) and when should you use WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy? This is common question epoxy users ask, especially when trying to choose the best adhesive for their woodworking projects. Let’s look at when one is a better choice than the other, and why. Continue reading
Versatile G/flex Thickened Epoxy Adhesive is now available in a dual syringe for convenient dispensing. The G/flex 655-1 syringe contains 0.42 oz. of resin and 0.42 oz. of hardener, the perfect amount to keep on hand for small repair jobs. Depressing the plunger on the dual syringe dispenses the proper 1:1 ratio of G/flex resin and hardener. Continue reading
At Gougeon Brothers Inc., customer service and support are paramount. Throughout the decades (five strong and counting), we’ve built our WEST SYSTEM® product line on a model that places customer satisfaction at the forefront. Many WEST SYSTEM users know first-hand that we strive for customer success no matter the project. Our customers’ projects range across an extremely wide spectrum. What many users may not know is the extent of product support that grinds away behind the scenes before a batch of our epoxy even hits the retail shelves. I’ll provide a look at just one of our churning gears that isn’t so obvious at first glance-quality control (QC). Continue reading