Tag Archives: Epoxyworks 57

Choosing Glue!

By Russell Brown

I was recently asked for help in choosing adhesives for a large spar-building project. This led to much thought and discussion with the wonderful WEST SYSTEM® Technical Advisors. The choices we made won’t surprise anyone, but the reasons we made those choices are worth explanation. Continue reading

"DN Iceboat Building" by David Fortier - Epoxyworks 57

DN Iceboat Building

By David Fortier

The first DN that I constructed was in 1988. My brother, Wayne, gave me the International DN Ice Yacht Racing Association (IDNIYRA) official plans and a gallon kit of WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy to get started. The official plans I believe were the Gougeon® “wedge” design. I was a soft water sailor, racing catamarans in the summer, but the winter of ‘87, we had discovered these FAST winter sailboats. I would say that it changed my life, this boat and the epoxy. I had used some epoxies previously, but this was my first large epoxy project using WEST SYSTEM Epoxy. Continue reading

RC Model Sailboat Builds

By Mark Borg

I have been using WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy for over 20 years. Over that time my projects have included building carbon fiber bikes and an amphibious robot to test my autonomous navigation software for my PhD in Robotics. Most recently, however, I built RC scale models of the 1995 America’s Cup winner Black Magic and the Multi70 trimaran, Maserati. Continue reading

WEST SYSTEM® Fiberglass Fabrics

By Jeff Wright – GBI VP of Technical Services

When someone says “fiberglass”, people may envision a shiny boat hull or even pink insulation, but a composite repair professional pictures a pure white fabric that could be woven in multiple ways and is available in multiple thicknesses. Specifically, fiberglass is the reinforcing fiber used in most marine composites. When epoxy encapsulates fiberglass, it becomes a Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) material. Since you are reading this article in Epoxyworks—and are hopefully enjoying it—let’s assume that the plastic component of FRP materials will be WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy. This article will focus on the different fiberglass fabrics we offer to use with WEST SYSTEM Epoxy. Continue reading

Making a Hard Top for an H336 Sailboat

By Kevin Lennon

There are little customizations we do to our boats that set them apart from all the others out there like it. For my Hunter 336, it was replacing the original dodger with a hard top. The dodger was from 1996, and it had so many repairs that it was starting to look shabby. It was the perfect time to upgrade the dodger to a hardtop. Continue reading

Calculating Epoxy Use When Using WEST SYSTEM® Accessories

By Terry Monville – GBI Technical Advisor

Taking the time to do quick, rough calculations at the beginning of a project can help you save on money and frustration in the long run. This can be especially helpful if you’re new to working with epoxy and haven’t quite developed the intuition yet for how far your epoxy will go. Here are some numbers we’ve collected over the years for estimating epoxy coverage when working with our WEST SYSTEM® Accessories. Continue reading

Tips for More Successful Epoxy Projects (that have nothing to do with epoxy mixing or application techniques)

By Jenessa Hilger – GBI Marketing

As beginner to intermediate epoxy users, we focus a lot of effort on learning techniques for mixing and applying epoxy. While these skills are important, there are other aspects to epoxy success that most of us only learn through experience. Continue reading

Auxiliary Rear Station Build

By Alvin Gall

From past fishing experiences, I’ve learned that quick changes in speed and direction are often required when retrieving a hooked fish. Having a control station on the fishing deck of our Trophy 2359 would make for a more enjoyable fishing experience. Since we’ve been underutilizing our bait well, we chose to sacrifice it and built a new rear station in its place.

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