Tag Archives: Fred Detwiler

Epoxy composite boats are winning a lot of races

Building Techniques & Race Results

Epoxy Composite Boats are Winning

By Grace Ombry 

There are many benefits of building boats of strong, lightweight epoxy composites. Let’s look at how both custom and production sailboats are performing on the race circuits.

Custom Boats

TRADER, an Andrews 70 built by AKE Ltd. in Tallinn, Estonia, won the 1993 Chicago to Mackinac, and Port Huron to Mackinac offshore races on corrected time. In the 300-mile Chicago race on July 17, racers experienced mostly reaching conditions. The first boat to finish was WINDQUEST, a Reichel/Pugh 70. Continue reading →

The Tallinn Cathedral, built for Peter the Great in the 1700s.

Laminating TRADER in Estonia

by C. Joe Parker

TRADER is an Alan Andrews designed 70′ IMS racer/cruiser, built by AKE Ltd. On July 7, 1992, my wife Deb and I traveled to Tallinn, Estonia. We were there to help begin the lamination of TRADER the first boat built with Gougeon Laminating Epoxy [the precursor to PRO-SET Epoxy -ed] in the former Soviet Union.  In October 1990, East and West Germany were reunited. In 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved. In July 1992, Gougeon Brothers traveled to the Eastern Block. Yep, history in the making.

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