Reader Project Gallery

By Grant Hilger

Grant bought a $400 hockey stick for $25. The only problem was the shaft was broken. His plan had been to cut the stick down to make a mini stick, but once he got it home, he thought “You know what, I can repair this!”

By Jim Cooper

Jim built this 8’ pram for the boat’s namesake, his granddaughter Amelia. The lines were taken from an older pram. This labor of love is ready to carry Amelia wherever the wind takes her.

By David Black

David Black shared some of his latest toasting goblet designs. David’s goblets first made an appearance in Epoxyworks back in 2015. He has continued refining and developing his styles over the years, having “pushed this set of goblets farther than

ever before, thanks to my faith in G/Flex®. Every project that I have used this adhesive, it has never let me down….even in my Yacht Building.” As a long-time WEST SYSTEM® user and a 3^rd Generation Master Shipwright, that’s high praise indeed!

By Francois de Faymoreau

Francois de Faymoreau bought this guitar at a flea market for $5. The head was broken clean off at the nut. Using six layers of 1/8″ Honduran mahogany, he bent them to follow the transition from the neck to the head of the guitar. He cleaned up the break by sawing a 5.67:1 ratio scarf joint to meet the new mahogany head. It has been doing wonderfully for five years.

By Mike Jarvis

Father and son partnered together to build this custom camper shell. Tired of a low pickup bed topper, Mike and his son Joe salvaged this topper to use as the base for their custom creation. The design they developed increased the height while factoring in aerodynamics for a more efficient profile. Using a mix of different WEST SYSTEM Epoxy products, they were able to transform their design concept into reality.

By Stephen Knowlton

This is a modified Rangeley lake boat was built from western red cedar and ash framing. The 1/8 strips were sheathed with fiberglass and WEST SYSTEM Epoxy.

By Amy Lahr

Amy bought her first large boat in the fall of 2021. It was a 1993 Tartan 31 Piper that Amy named Unplugged.

Her previous owner stored her indoors in the winter, so 2022 was her first winter outdoors in the Minnesota snow. Unplugged showed her disapproval by splitting her rudder. Amy discovered it a couple days before she was supposed to splash.

Not having any previous experience, Amy followed the WEST SYSTEM® manuals and rebuilt the rudder in a month. She used 105/205, 105/206, 406 Colloidal Silica Filler to put the skin back on, 407 Low-Density Filler for fairing, G-flex® around the shaft, plus syringes, etc. Amy states, “I went from zero to our club’s epoxy expert.”

Canoe By Otto Glass

When Otto’s wife turned out to be allergic to cedar, he got creative and used untreated 2×6 framing lumber to build their canoe. He milled the boards into strips himself and constructed a 14′ long, 40″ wide, 16″ deep custom canoe. Despite having no prior experience with canoe building or fiberglass, he praised the ease of WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy and the 300 Mini Pumps.

Casting by Lou Yelgin

To restore a vintage wooden screw for a bench vise, Lou needed a custom nut with a rare 3½ TPI thread. Since machining wasn’t an option, he used the screw itself to mold the threads by coating it in petroleum jelly and casting WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy around it. The result was a perfect, functional epoxy nut.

Historic Win by Michael Lobieg – GBI Marketing

Team Puget Sound Navigation Company was the first to finish in this year’s WA360, placing first in the wind division! The three-person team—consisting of Michael Karas, Molly Karas, and Anthony Boscolo—sailed their Gougeon 32, Incognito. “We had an amazing race getting to put the Gougeon 32 through its paces and seeing the boat shine in every condition the Puget Sound had to offer!”

Incognito was previously owned by long-time WEST SYSTEM® user and Epoxyworks contributor, Russell Brown. “Not much refit was needed. Just rigged up a lee cloth so we could sleep, and we changed out the screecher Harken® roller furling system to a Karver® continuous line furler.” The team obliterated the course record by a day and a half! The previous course record: 3 days, 6 hours, 59 minutes. The new course record? 2 days, 18 hours, 24 minutes.

Congratulations to team Puget Sound Navigation Company on their historic win!

Windvane by John Mikolich

While winterizing his sailboat, John Mikolich accidentally crushed a plastic windvane with an 80-pound outboard. Over breakfast, he spotted a cereal box and used it to trace and cut a replacement, then saturated it with WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy. By dinnertime, he had a durable, colorful new part—better than the original.

Leveling Feet by Daryl Brunette

After moving into a new house, my workbench wobbled on the sloped garage floor, and I didn’t want winter water puddling around the shimmed wooden legs. As a longtime WEST SYSTEM^® user, I knew epoxy could help, but encapsulating the feet with thickened epoxy felt too complicated. Instead, I poured leftover epoxy into small cups and cast the heads of bolts into them, creating simple, custom leveling feet. It was a free, durable fix that put waste epoxy and spare parts to good use.

Knife by Matthew Gregory

This neo-Japanese style fighting knife, with composite construction handle, was made by Matthew Gregory. The 6″ long blade is made of a Crucible Steel laminate of CPM-154 stainless cladding over a core of high wear resistance tool steel Crucible CPM-10v. The handle consists of a G10 and carbon fiber frame, with an aerospace foam material called Rohacell (to add dimension with almost no weight). It’s sleeved in carbon fiber, and bonded with WEST SYSTEM^® 105/207 under vacuum. The seppa and menuki are both titanium, and the guard is carbon fiber. WEST SYSTEM 105/205 was used for the final assembly. Instagram @mgregoryknives.

Condo Bench by Paul Hayes

Reader Paul Hayes recently donated this bench to his condo association so residents would have a nice location near the mailboxes to sit and read their mail. This teak bench had spent some time outside and therefore had become discolored. He sanded the bench on his dry, enclosed porch and removed any sanding dust. Having some limited exposure to WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy from the sailing world, he decided to use that to seal the wood. He applied four applications, being careful not to create “gas bubbles” by letting the porch get too hot or humid. He sanded between each coat. Over top he applied 4-5 coats of a marine grade varnish, wet sanding as high as 2,500-grit.

Boat Planters by Ed Maurer

Yard Yachts are small, boat-like planters and displays for use in homes, gardens and businesses. Working from his shop in Dunedin, FL, Ed Maurer builds these 3′-8′ yachts. He chooses to use interior grade plywood (for its flexibility and affordability) in addition to various types of lumber. To ensure the yachts can stand up to the exterior elements, he uses WEST SYSTEM 105 Epoxy Resin^® and 206 Slow Hardener^® for bonding and sealing the wood. The exteriors, and sometimes the interiors, are painted with high-grade exterior household paints to the customer’s order. Any unpainted epoxy receives several coats of marine-grade spar varnish.

Wood Dinghy by Robert Hale

This design is Nick Schade’s “Coot” plan. It was built by Robert Hale using clear old growth red cedar 1/4″ x 3/4″.
He tried to orient as many strips fore and aft as possible, but the last eight strips went in straight, and he tapered the ends. These were edge glued and covered in 6 oz. fiberglass inside and out using WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy. The transom is cherry.