Tag Archives: Spring 2012

Building a Curved Wall

By Brian Knight

Let’s look at a good method for building curved walls curved-face cabinets. A while back, as I was waiting in the reception lobby of a major American corporation, I had the chance to admire the curved reception desk and other oak furniture in the room. However, when I examined the reception desk more closely, I could see facets in the oak veneer instead of a nice, smooth curve. I immediately realized that the cabinet builders had sawn closely spaced saw kerfs in the back of the panel so they could bend it to shape. I thought there must be a better way. Continue reading

Let’s Start Off Simple

Easy-to-build strip-plank projects

By Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor
Epoxyworks #36, Spring 2014

Cover Photos: Our special issue on building features practical and simple techniques.

Building a natural finish wood-strip or strip-plank canoe can be exciting and a bit daunting, particularly if it is your first clear finish canoe. You’ll commit time and money to the project and your expectations may run high. Most people are happy with the results of their first strip plank project, but deep down they wish some aspect of it was a bit better. Continue reading

Jan C. Gougeon in the boat shop

Jan C. Gougeon

August 7, 1945 – December 18, 2012

Jan Gougeon was a visionary, ingenious, and a great innovator who could see beyond boundaries, one of a few people to really have changed the boatbuilding game in his lifelong quest for speed. This is how boat builders, designers, sailors, and iceboaters recall Jan. A natural engineer, Jan became an accomplished boat designer and builder who was always thinking about his next boat. His vibrant, boyish enthusiasm lit up the room. Jan was a fierce competitor who shared tips and technology openly, offering astute and encouraging advice to novice and veteran sailors and builders alike. Continue reading

Architectural columns built by Pleasant Bay Columns

Pleasant Bay Columns

By Suzanne Leahy
Epoxyworks 34

Cover Photo: The finished 24′ front columns built by Pleasant Bay Boat & Spar Company.

In 2006, I was contacted by a wood consultant whose client was looking for a shop to turn solid Ipe architectural columns. He’d found out about our company through the Federal Reserve project. STA Architectural Group was the principal designer of a private residence under construction in South Florida. Their trademark motif was tropical hardwood architectural columns resembling palm trunks. This design called for unusual dimensions for eight columns.
Continue reading

Building a Custom Stained Glass Lampshade Mold

With G/5 Five-Minute Epoxy Adhesive

By Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

A few years back Mary, my better half, suggested I make a custom stained glass lampshade for our den at home. There are molds commercially available for making glass lampshades. They hold glass pieces in position in the desired curved shape until the soldering process is complete. Unfortunately, the shape I wanted was not available. I wanted something similar in size and shape to the fabric-covered lamp shade in the den. In the end, I decided to make a custom mold. Continue reading

SPARKS by Ted Moores

Skeg Construction for SPARKS

Lesson 3 in our series on Strip Planking

by Ted Moores

Designing and constructing a successful skeg for Sparks (our 30′ hybrid electric launch featured in Epoxyworks 32) took some head-scratching. But in the end, it was just another combination of wood and WEST SYSTEM® epoxy. Our skeg needed to be functional and age gracefully, yet be reasonably quick and easy to build and install. This project was an ideal opportunity to explore the limits as well as the advantages of combining wood with epoxy to engineer simple solutions to complex problems. Continue reading

Mike's fancy epoxy caddie

The Coupe de Ville of Epoxy Caddies

By Mike Barnard

Inspired by an old Boatbuilder article by Captain James R. Watson, my father and I built our own deluxe epoxy caddy, which we call the Coupe de Ville of Epoxy Caddies. My dad has grown very fond of WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy and his box of epoxy-related items has been growing at a steady rate. The overflow of his box in an already “treasure” packed garage emphasized his need for an organization and storage system for these materials. We have had several requests for this same type of solution lately. Continue reading

Bubble-Free Epoxy Coating

By Mike BarnardDon Gutzmer

WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy has long been a popular choice for clear coating tabletops, and for these applications, you’ll want a bubble-free epoxy coating. Epoxy works great as a buildup coat and a moisture barrier. It also showcases the beauty of wood grain and fiber weaves. Formulated with boat building in mind, WEST SYSTEM Epoxy is not intended as a final finish coating. You may find it a bit more difficult to achieve a perfect surface with epoxy than with a coating formulated specifically for final finishing, such as varnish. Here’s how to make sure your epoxy coating is bubble-free.

However, WEST SYSTEM offers some distinct advantages. It builds up quickly: a single coat of 105 Epoxy Resin® with 207 Special Clear Hardener® offers about four times the thickness of a typical coat of polyurethane varnish. WEST SYSTEM epoxy is also an excellent moisture barrier, stabilizing the surface so your final finish coat will look beautiful longer.

When coating a surface that will be used outdoors, it’s important to put a UV-resistant clear coating over the epoxy. While 207 Special Clear Hardener contains a good UV inhibitor, it will still need additional UV-resistant coats to withstand the degrading effects of sunlight on epoxy.

Since you will need to sand down the epoxied surface and coat the epoxy with varnish, getting a perfect coating isn’t strictly necessary. But the better shape it’s in, the more easily you will achieve a beautiful, bubble-free finish. The key is creating the smoothest, flattest epoxy surface possible. This will save you a lot of sanding later.

Last summer here at the Gougeon shop, we laminated a 35-year-old conference table with carbon fiber and WEST SYSTEM 105/207. We experimented with different methods of achieving a smooth, even, bubble-free epoxy coat to reduce the need for sanding prior to the final finish coating. (Editor’s note: 10 years after this article was written, that carbon-fiber conference table still looks terrific.)

Prepare the surface

Proper surface preparation is one of the most important steps in using epoxy. Make sure the surface is clean of contaminants such as wax and paint. Sand the surface smooth. Avoid using solvents immediately before applying the epoxy.

Eliminate dust

Getting a perfectly smooth surface starts with clearing the air of small particles. These particles may seem harmless, but once they are on a glossy surface it will not look nearly as good as it could. Avoid using tack rags. Vacuum the surface before coating.

Understand outgassing

Before coating bare wood, heat the wood and apply the epoxy while the wood is cooling. During cooling, the air in the wood contracts, drawing the epoxy in for a bubble-free epoxy coating. The opposite happens if you coat wood as it’s warming (such as in the morning, in the sunlight, near a heater or anytime ambient temperature is rising). The air in the wood will expand and “outgas” while the wood’s temperature is rising, resulting in bubbles in the curing epoxy coating.

Applying over stains

Be careful when using WEST SYSTEM Epoxy over commercial stains. Some stains prevent epoxy from penetrating into the wood. The result can be epoxy that fisheyes or peels off after final cure. Always perform a test before using epoxy over a stain.

Avoiding blush

It’s easy to avoid the inert, waxy residue that is sometimes a byproduct of the curing process and is commonly called “blush.” Simply use WEST SYSTEM 207 Special Clear Hardener. It cures blush-free. It’s also formulated for excellent wet out and self-leveling. It cures extremely clear and without color.

If you are using WEST SYSTEM 205 Fast, 206 Slow, or 209 Extra Slow Hardener, blush might develop on the surface, depending on working conditions. It’s easily removed after the epoxy cures with plain water and a light scrubbing with a Scotch-Brite™ pad. These hardeners are not normally recommended for clear coating.

Rolling and tipping

The only recommended way to coat vertical surfaces with epoxy is the roll and tip method. Roll the epoxy on with a foam roller, then “tip” by dragging another roller across the surface to smooth the epoxy layer.

Tip off wet epoxy with a roller cover brush using long, even overlapping strokes. This will leave a bubble-free epoxy coating.

Tip off wet epoxy with a roller cover brush using long, even overlapping strokes. This will leave a bubble-free epoxy coating.

Flow coating

This is the best method for encapsulating items in a bubble-free epoxy coating. The fewest bubbles result if epoxy is poured from the bottom of a container. A word of caution: Never pour a single layer of epoxy thicker than ¼”. Thicker amounts can quickly overheat or “exotherm” during cure, resulting in quite a mess on your lovely surface. If you want a final thickness greater than ¼”, wait until the first layer is cured to the point where it’s firm and about as “tacky” as masking tape then apply the next coat on top of that.

If encapsulating items such as coins, medals, bottle caps and photos on a flat surface, affix them in place with decoupage glue such as Mod Podge® (readily available at craft stores). It’s compatible with epoxy and will prevent your items from floating around. Use it to pre-seal photos and other paper items.

Propane torch

This method of achieving a bubble-free epoxy finish has been used for years by technical advisors at Gougeon Brothers. Not only is it effective for removing air bubbles from the surface, it also lowers the viscosity of the surface and flattens it out a bit. Be very careful when using this technique because leaving the flame over one spot for too long could cause bubbles to appear. We don’t recommend using a propane torch over epoxy-coated bare wood. Doing so may cause outgassing into the epoxy layer.

A thick coating of epoxy with bubbles in the coating.

A thick coating of epoxy with bubbles in the coating.

Pass a torch flame quickly over wet epoxy to warm the surface, reduce the surface tension, reduce viscosity slightly and release air bubbles, resulting in a bubble-free epoxy finish.

Pass a torch flame quickly over wet epoxy to warm the surface, reduce the surface tension, reduce viscosity slightly and release air bubbles, resulting in a bubble-free epoxy finish.

After a quick pass with a torch, the bubbles are released and the coating begins to flow out.

After a quick pass with a torch, the bubbles are released and the coating begins to flow out.

Denatured Alcohol

Spraying a fine mist of denatured alcohol over the surface will pop air bubbles as well as lower the viscosity of the surface and flatten it out. There is little risk in this method because denatured alcohol evaporates fairly quickly and does not cause air bubbles to propagate. A fine mist is critical. To get the fine mist we purchased a bottle of hair spray with a push button pump (a Windex™ sprayer is not fine enough) and replaced the hair spray with denatured alcohol.

A fine mist of denatured alcohol will reduce surface tension and release air bubbles, resulting in a bubble-free epoxy coating.

A fine mist of denatured alcohol will reduce surface tension and release air bubbles, resulting in a bubble-free epoxy coating.

Bond Lines in Adhesive Bonded Structures

Understanding Bond Line Stresses in Composites

By Jeff Wright — Vice President of Technical Services

This article will discuss some of the engineering aspects to consider when designing or repairing an adhesive bonded composite structure, particularly bond line stresses. Fiberglass reinforced plastic and other composites influence the design of many products manufactured today. Boat hulls, sports equipment and airplanes can easily take new, complex shapes when composites are used in place of traditional materials. Reinforcing structures also benefit from the versatility of composite materials when prefabricated components are bonded with a high-strength adhesive. Continue reading

Foam Strip Planking

Foam Strip Plank Boatbuilding

BY JOHN LINDAHL 

A couple of years ago my son Ian asked me about building an A Class catamaran. Having built several of these in the past and knowing what was now on the market, I came up with a build method that would:

  • Allow us to build a competitive design.
  • Be at or under the class minimum weight of 165 lb.
  • Be as strong and stiff as anything on the market.
  • Be competitive in quality and price, but not get trapped in exotic equipment expense. This meant no vacuum bag, no pre-preg, no resin infusion, and no autoclave.

Continue reading