Tag Archives: Fall 2014

creativity drum

Drumming In Circles

By Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

Epoxyworks 39

Cover Photo: A variety of drums made by Technical Advisor Tom Pawlak.

In 1991, during testimony before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart stated:

”Typically, people gather to drum in drum ‘circles’ with others from the surrounding community. The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To form a group consciousness. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together.” Continue reading →

Rough Rider

Smiles All Around

Repairing the ballast-hull crack

By Mike Barnard

For some sailors, there is a common maintenance ritual that occurs every spring—repairing the ballast-hull crack or cracks where the leading edge of the ballast keel meets the hull. This annually reoccurring crack is sometimes referred to as a “Catalina Smile” because it often occurs on Catalina sailboats. But we’re not here to pick on Catalinas because ballast-hull cracks are hardly exclusive to them.

The crack can form due to a number of causes but probably the most common reason is the hull isn’t as stiff as when it was new.  Continue reading →

The Flying Dutchman SURCEASE restored to its former glory.

Flying Dutchman Restoration

By Douglas Heckrotte

Surcease is a late ’50s International Flying Dutchman Class sailboat. The Mahogany hull was cold-molded in Holland and imported by Paul Rimoldi of Miami Florida. Mr Rimoldi made everything else, including many pieces of hardware. He raced the boat on Biscayne Bay into the ’60s and sailed it for many years. He rebuilt the boat in the late ’80s but died before he finished. We bought the boat in August 1992 from his widow and sailed it for almost a season before we discovered that the hull was in very poor condition; the Urea-resin glue between the veneers had begun to turn to dust. We stored the boat and bought another Flying Dutchman.  Continue reading →

Simple, Effective Home Repairs and Projects

Including interior and exterior door repairs

By Bruce Niederer — GBI Technical Advisor

I often get calls from a customer asking if his leftover epoxy can be used for some small project around the house. The answer is yes, of course! Here are three projects, including a couple of different door repairs, that are perfect examples of what you can do with those partial cans of WEST SYSTEM® resin and hardener.

Continue reading →

Light as a Feather

How I made a composite fender for my bike

By Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

Last Father’s Day I received a new light and sleek bicycle from my family. It is by far the nicest bike I’ve ever owned. I enjoy riding it to work in the spring, summer, and fall. Because it is so nice, I decided I didn’t want to bolt on the aluminum bracket used previously over the back wheel on my old bike. The bracket had served multiple purposes. It supported my travel bag and it acted as a fender to keep road water off my back while riding. I decided I would ride with a backpack instead to reduce bulkiness and thought it would be nice to make a lightweight composite fender that I could snap on for those rainy days. That would allow me to remove it for longer trips and on nice weather days. Continue reading →

When the Cat’s Away

Repairing a cracked wall plaque with G/5 Adhesive

By Julie Jezowski

Like a lot of people, when I’m at work I like to keep busy. It makes me feel good about myself and the bonus is that the day just flies on by. Having said that, it’s also nice to escape from the walls of my office now and then and head out into the shop to see what the guys are working on. For some reason, this gravitational pull I feel from the shop occurs more when my boss is away. We can just call it an unexplained phenomenon and leave it at that. During some of my excursions to the shop rather than just observing they let me help them with the projects they’re working on, which I absolutely love! Continue reading →

Jan C. Gougeon's final project, STRINGS.

Strings Centerboard Adjustment

By Greg Bull — GBI Technical Advisor

Strings, as unique as the man who designed it, continues to be a work in progress for us at GBI. In Jan Gougeon’s first year of sailing Strings, he noticed the boat felt sticky at times. He thought it might be the centerboards jibing too much and the solution might be an adjustment to lock them straight. The centerboards work as jibing boards by having two high spots on each side of a centerboard head creating the pivot point to get the boards to change angle, or jibe. The actual pressure from the boat going through the water and wanting to slide sideways gets the centerboards to jibe. Continue reading →

Goshen students

588 Miles Per Gallon

Student-designed high-mileage prototype vehicles

By The Students of Goshen High School’s Engineering Design & Development Class

We are a group of students from Goshen High School in northern Indiana and for the past six years we’ve had the opportunity to design, build and test high-mileage prototype vehicles in a class called Engineering Design and Development. Year to year, this program serves about 30 students aged 15 to 18. We begin with little to no background in an automotive or engineering technology background, and through the course of this program learn many new skills. Continue reading →

completed skim board

Vacuum Bagging a Skimboard at MITES Competition

By Ben Gougeon and Don Gutzmer

For the past couple of years, Gougeon Brothers Inc. has been involved with the Michigan Industrial and Technology Education Society (MITES). This non-profit organization consists of over 600 members involving both high school teachers and students who believe in the power of hands-on learning. The students build a project throughout the year and compete in the MITES annual regional, state, and national competition.

Continue reading →