The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

142 Core Boatbuilding Techniques
Figure 14-16 Bonded hardware on the deck and cabin top of
IOR 1 ⁄2-ton racer Hot Flash. Several of the fittings have pads
that were cast in place.
the fitting to build up several areas of contact between
the two bonding surfaces, as in Figure 14-17. When
this epoxy support or bridging has cured, carefully
mark the position of the hardware and then tap it
Wood spacer
Figure 14-17 Steps for casting a pad for a winch.
1
Cast base
Pads of 404/406
mixture
3
Winch stem base
(disassemble the winch
to ease installation and
cleaning)
Fasteners bonded
to blocking
with a mallet to break it loose. Up to this point,
you have drilled no holes, and you haven’t cleaned
the hardware surface.
Remove the two temporary wood positioning points
and fill the bonding area solid with sufficient amounts
of a 404/406/epoxy mixture to fill all anticipated voids
between bonding surfaces. If standard-size holes for
fasteners are to be used, you can prepare the hardware
bonding surface for final bonding. If oversize holes are
to be used, you’ll need to remove the hardware once
again after the casting epoxy has cured to drill the
larger holes. At this point, if you have a piece of
hardware with a lot of surface area, you may want to
coat the hardware bonding surface with a release agent
to facilitate removal. If a release agent is used,
remember that after you remove the hardware, you
must clean both the epoxy and the metal surface
carefully to remove the release agent material so that
proper bonding can take place. Don’t forget to mark
the centers of the oversize holes to be drilled before
removing the hardware. This may require chipping
some excess cured epoxy out of the hardware fastener
holes.
Pad painted with
deck or trim
Stem
Carefully clean thickened epoxy
off base during installation
Winch
assembled
Vary length to achieve even
penetration of blocking
2
4