I decided on my boat Ion, a 34′ power cat, because I wanted an efficient, modest, contemporary, and quiet running yacht for cruising the Intra coastal waterway, Chesapeake Bay, Bahamas, and the Great Lakes in my retirement. The boat would require the ability to safely cross several hundred miles of open sea at a good cruising speed. Continue reading
Why not build what you can’t buy? Do you sometimes need a replacement part for your boat, home or recreational vehicle and find out it’s no longer available? Discontinued. Source unknown. Can’t be found. Maybe the price borders on insanity or, you need a part that simply does not exist and never did.
“Okay,” you say, “I need it, can’t get it, my only option is to make it.” Continue reading
Photo at top: How a simple S hook can save your 801 Roller Frame.
When you’ve completed a coating task using an 801 Roller Frame and 800 Roller Cover, what next? The 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 frame. If you lay the roller and frame on a workbench, it will be stuck there the next day. Here is a simple solution to this problem that will allow you to reuse your frame again and again.
Above: G/5 Five-Minute Adhesive is applied neatly to a furniture joint.
Let’s look at some ways G/5 Five-Minute-Adhesive can be used around the house for everything from furniture repair to building model railroads.
Above: A combination square is used to mark the two edges along the entire length of the corner before applying reinforcing fiber tape.
Composites are a blend of resin (in this case mixed epoxy) and reinforcing fiber. Folks often ask, “How strong are they?” It is difficult to answer this question due to many variables including resin type, fiber type, fiber orientation, and resin/fiber ratio. To give a value for a laminate, we reduce the variables. Values shown in this article were done with test samples using WEST SYSTEM 105 Epoxy Resin®/206 Slow Hardener® at room temperature (70°F). Reinforcing fibers are Episize™ materials. Continue reading
The WEST SYSTEM® Six10 epoxy cartridge is comprised of the cartridge body, removable nose plug, and a threaded retaining nut. A 600 static mixer is included with the cartridge. (It’s called a static mixer because it has no moving parts.) The cartridge fits into any standard caulk gun—manual, cordless, or pneumatic—and allows simultaneous dispensing and mixing of the two-part epoxy.
For many decades Gougeon Brothers Inc. has kept in contact with multihull designer James Wharram. Wharram, of Cornwall, UK, has sailed and designed Polynesian-style catamarans for 50 years. Amateurs and professionals have built his boats and sailed them to all corners of the planet. The designs he creates with his engineer and artist partner Hanneke Boon have evolved over the years, but remain unmistakably, Wharram Catamarans. Continue reading
Above: A schematic showing how to build a set of planer boards.
Planer boards allow for more fishing lines to be trolled simultaneously and are used to spread lures and harnesses away from the boat when trolling at low speeds (below 2 knots). They are commonly used when fishing for walleye. You can achieve a greater dimensional spread with planer boards than with outriggers. Continue reading
Above: The United Methodist Church in Ludington, Michigan where window restoration was completed with WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy.
Those working on projects that use epoxy for restoration and rot repair often ask, “How long will this last? Will the rot return?” At Gougeon Brothers, Inc., we have lots of in-house test approaches that can analyze tension, compression, shear, and fatigue. We can also predict the consequences of ultraviolet, arid, tropical, and cold conditions. Still, there’s nothing like real-world performance over time to tell us how long a repair will last. Continue reading
For maximum enjoyment when cruising on small craft, you need to carry food and beverages and keep them cold for the duration of the trip. While you can purchase good icebox/coolers in many shapes and sizes, these may not quite fit where you want or keep food cold long enough on extended cruises. Building a custom icebox with WEST SYSTEM® epoxy is neither difficult nor expensive. You can make it exactly the right size and build it in place or make it portable. You can also make it more efficient than a store bought icebox. I’ll show you how I built one to suit my needs, but these construction techniques are easily adaptable to your own requirements. Continue reading