154 – January/February 2019
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MyState Australian Wooden Boat Show 2019
ATL Composites sponsors WEST SYSTEM products to build a Haven 12.5
In February of 2019, the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building (NWSWB) will showcase a Haven 12.5 at The MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart, Tasmania. ATL Composites is proud to support this project, by kindly sponsoring WEST SYSTEM products for the build.
NWSWB Chief Instructor, Sean Koomen and a team of highly skilled alumni members are currently building the Haven 12.5 at the Wooden Boat Centre in Franklin, Tasmania, with the same sort of time-frame as the Dutch boat building project on 2017. The Haven 12.5 is a classic American boat design, originally created by Nat Herreshoff, and modified by Naval Architect, Joel White. You will have the opportunity to view the classic Joel White designed Haven 12.5, built using WEST SYSTEM epoxy products, as it will be on display at the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival, and will be auctioned at the end of the show to support the free, public event.
ATL Composites will be exhibiting at The MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival from February 8 through 11, with the full range of WEST SYSTEM products displayed in the Princes Wharf No. 1 building on Hobart's historic waterfront. ATL Composites, is the licensed manufacturer of WEST SYSTEM epoxy for the Australasian region. 2019 marks the 50th Anniversary of Gougeon Brothers Inc, USA, the creators of WEST SYSTEM. WEST SYSTEM epoxy products are now internationally recognised as the leading marine epoxy.
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Take the opportunity to meet the experienced ATL Composites Technical Team who can answer your questions on the best products for you to use to increase the life-span of your new wooden boat build or repair / maintenance project.
www.atlcomposites.com
ATL Mini Pumps
Selling WEST SYSTEM Epoxy in a retail environment for more than 20 years, the most common question I receive is:
Do I really need the Mini Pumps?
We’ve all been in a situation where the salesperson is trying to up sell us or has no clue what we really need. In the case of Mini Pumps, however, the salesperson is trying to do you a favor. You really do need Mini Pumps unless you already have a set of them, or you plan on using a scale.
Why Use Pumps?
WEST SYSTEM Resin and Hardener—like any epoxy—must be mixed at the correct ratio to cure properly and with the published physical properties. Too much or too little hardener will not change the speed in which it cures but instead will prevent it from properly curing. Too much hardener means once all the resin has reacted with the hardener, the extra hardener has nowhere to go. This extra hardener in the mix results in softer epoxy, or what the industry calls a “plasticizing cure.”
We formulate the ratio for 105 Resin and our 200-series hardeners to have a “fudge factor” but get outside of that forgiving stoichiometric range and problems will occur. Mixing on ratio is always ideal, but with WEST SYSTEM products, hardener lean is better than hardener rich. This is why you really want to buy a set of calibrated 300 Mini Pumps. One full pump stroke of resin to one full pump stroke of hardener will yield the proper volume of each.
WEST SYSTEM is based on the 105 Resin and four 200 series hardeners (205 Fast, 206 Slow, 207 Special Clear Coating, and 209 Extra Slow). WEST SYSTEM pumps are supplied in the following pack sizes which have been calibrated to the 5:1 mix ratio for 105 Resin with 205 Fast and 206 Slow hardeners, and 3:1 mix ratio for the 105 Resin with 207 Special Coating and 206 Super Slow hardeners:
Getting the most out of Mini Pumps
Now that you made the right decision and bought the pumps, here’s how to make the most of your purchase.
When you first install the pumps, check to make sure the resin pump is ready to use. Hold the white cap that screws onto the can and the clear plastic pump barrel and make sure they are screwed together snugly. You will also want to check on this from time to time.
Priming the pumps before the first use is simple but important; the instructions in the package explain how to do this. You will want to check the prime if the pumps been sitting for a long time, or when changing containers.
That’s right, when changing containers. No need to buy new pumps every time you buy a new pack. Store the pumps on the container and when you run out of WEST SYSTEM Epoxy you can move your pumps to the new resin and hardener.
If the pumps have been sitting for a while, they may develop a crust on the end of the spout. Hardener pumps particularly seem to do this. The crust is easily cleaned away: just break it off and wipe the spout. You can use warm water to clean the hardener pumps and acetone or denatured alcohol for the resin pump, if needed.
Use only full pump strokes and do not pull up on them, let them return on their own. Alternating one stroke of resin and one stroke of hardener eliminates the need to count strokes and reduces the time spent waiting for the pumps to return to the top of their stroke. Slow pump return can be an issue when using epoxy in cooler weather when the epoxy becomes “thicker” (actually, more viscous as our chemists would say). Try to keep your resin and hardener warm even if what you’re working on isn’t. Mix your epoxy indoors if you’re working at low temperatures in the garage. In the boatyard, an empty cooler and a shop light with an incandescent 15-watt bulb will keep your resin and hardener nice and warm.
Remember, warm epoxy will cure faster until it hits the cool/cold surface. Call and talk to one of our Technical Advisors about cold temperature bonding applications, or check our User Manual & Product Guide, visit westsystem.com.au, or see “Cold Weather Bonding” by Don Gutzmer in Epoxyworks 43. Extract from the Gougeon Brothers publication EPOXYWORKS Issue Number 47:Fall 2018. Reprinted with the permission of WEST SYSTEM Inc, USA.
(07) 5563 1222
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www.atlcomposites.com
Fountaine Pajot - Astrea 42
Family Comfort
The Berret Racoupeau design has cruising comforts firmly in mind, as we found out during our test sail of the first production hull from the leading French builder, reports KEVIN GREEN.
Buying Auberge
Leaping out of the nest
‘Dad, I want to buy Auberge and bring her back,” Baden said to me one evening.
Auberge was the Beach Marine Macro 25 that my daughter, Estelle, had bought in Townsville and sailed to Cairns. She had planned on tidying it up and sailing it back to Townsville to live aboard while at uni doing marine science. While working on the trampoline netting in the marina Estelle started chatting to a young man who was walking the jetty. Because of that moment, and subsequent discussions, plans changed over the ensuing months and she ended up moving to Adelaide and attending university there and I became the temporary new owner of Auberge until selling her to make way for our Crowther 43, Whim. Auberge sailed south to Rockhampton with her new owner.
Courtesy Boating New Zealand
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