While this application would not be what someone first thought of when they thought of “”marine,”  building giant fish and reef tanks does fall under that category.   People have been using MAS Epoxies to build tanks for all sorts of marine creatures – a University used it for the Turtle tanks and many fish enthusiasts have used to the build custom tanks when they could not find what they wanted commercially.

Check out http://www.reefbuild.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38

Work on the Bluenose II restoration continues up in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia!       The Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance, a partnership of Snyders Shipyard, Lunenburg Foundry and Covey Island Boatworks has become a formidable team as the great ship has come together before the eyes of millions because of their web cams at various angles on the boat building shed.  You can even look down from the ceiling to watch the work of these craftsmen, with more that 200 years of  boatbuilding experience restore this great schooner .              click here to watch the action    Building videos

Along with the rebuild of the Bluenose II, I recently caught up with Kevin Jeffrey, Founder and Owner of Norseboats. Noresboats continues to design and launch innovative designs and earn their title as the Swiss Army Knife of Small Sailboats. Theya re so busy, they’re sharing the wealth! Along with offering ready to sail craft, partially built and Norseboat Light Craft Kits in Lunenberg, they are currently building the Norseboat 21.5 by Mike York, York Marine in Rockland, ME.

If you’re looking for a great trailerable sailing and rowing boat, or just want to dream, find out more at Norseboat.com.

As always,  send us news of your latest projects. We love to see what you’re working on.

JB

jb@masepoxies.com

Wooden Boat Festival Sail Parade

The Wooden Boat Festival was a huge success. The Chesapeake Light Craft, Red Fish Kayaks and Sam Devlin boat designs where the hit once again. When we started this show 20 years ago not one boat was made with MAS Epoxy. Now, almost 80 percent are. How cool! And no wonder I have so much fun at this show every year.

I had the pleasure of sailing with Ted Pike and family on his 45′ foot sloop and Jim Miller of Wooden Boat Magazine. Weather was perfect and the boats where beautiful.  Click here for more photos.

This year Jay Benford of Benford Yacht Design was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his designs and support of the industry. Congratulations to Jay, his wife, Donna and their lovely family.

I also got to meet Richard Woods of Woods Design, a designer of multihulls I’ve wanted to meet for years. http://www.woodsdesigns.com Richard is in a class with Nigal Irons and Gino Morrelli great cruising cats!

JB

jb@masepoxies.com  856-303-9245

While most of our customers escaped without injury, there is plenty of clean up and repair work to be done. Check out http://www.masepoxies.com and the Epoxy School for information on repairs, or call us directly with questions at 888-627-3769.

In the meantime, the flood waters receded and life got back to normal on Squam Lake. Above is a picture of a 1969 Century taken earlier this summer at the Squam Lake Boat Parade. We also participated in the 250th celebration of the town of Holderness . Parades and boat show where a huge success.

We’re headed into an exciting and busy fall season of shows for boat lovers from owners to dealers and builders. We look forward to seeing you!

I’m taking my annual pilgrimage to The Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend this week from Sept. 8 through the 11th. Redfish Kayaks, Pygmy Kayaks and Chesapeake Light Craft will all be building boats with MAS Epoxy. Stop by to learn more about building your own boat!

We’ll be in the Composites Pavilion at IBEX (Booth 1233) and on the Green Marine Trail of eco-friendly products.

Check out Madness, John Harris’ big yellow PROA that will be on the docks at the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, October 6 – 10.

We’re continually expanding our distribution network. Look for us with Donovan Marine, Orgill Inc. and Standard Hardware, as well as our existing distributors, which include Chesapeake Light Craft, Jamestown Distributors, Seattle Marine, and West Marine/Port Supply. See all of our distributors on our website, http://www.maspeoxies.com.

Looking forward to talking with you soon.

JB Currell
609 332 3866
Jb@masepoxies.com
MAS Epoxies: Great for beginners…Loved by Professionals

Beautiful, Clean and Busy!

We’ve been busy visiting manufacturers around the country! I spent last week in Knoxville. First up, a visit to the Sea Ray plants with Hagemeyer distributors . Impressive! Great boat building. Lots of Fiberglass and all first class. They flush all their polyester guns with acetone alternatives.

But the one they use has water in it and it flash rusts the tools and will not allow the resin to cure out. This means they have to deal with haz material disposal. Bio-Solv has no water so the excess resin cures and causes no rusting. Hey we learned that the finish guys love it too because Bio-Solv removes pen from vinyl seats!

Speaking of first class boat building, I also visited the Skiers Choice facility. They build the Supra and Moomba ski boats. This has to be the cleanest factory I’ve ever been in. Coupled with the really nice people and awesome fit and finish, I’m dreaming of a new ski boat to bum around in this summer…

Oh yea, while I was hanging out in the Knoxville Hilton Gardens, I got to see the Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup! No one at the Bar understood why I was so excited. I had to explain that the game they were playing was Ice Hockey. Apparently, they like to float in their water, not skate on it in Tennessee.

We are really excited about the growth and acceptance we are creating with Bio-Solv In the last few months. Bio-Solv is now available through Sherwin-Williams Industrial Sales Staff, Orgill and Composites One, along with our existing suppliers Port Supply/West Marine, Jamestown Distributors and Hagemeyer.

After cruising around Tennessee, it was off to Portland Oregon for the launching of “Haven” a Tom Wylie design 48 foot performance cruising sailboat. Built by Schooner Creak Boat Works, she is a beauty! And, Yes, they used MAS!

One gorgeous wooden canoe!

We received this great email recently from Doug Hackett, designer of this canoe and some of the coolest all wood rockers we’ve ever seen!  Doug sells these canoes and plans for some other cool projects, so take a look.  Please note that Doug is looking for a partner to build his boats. Let him know if you’re interested…JB

Thanks for your suggestions today when I spoke to you on the phone. I attached a picture of a strip canoe that I made with pine, cherry fiberglass cloth and Mas Epoxy. Your epoxy always works great and makes for a nice finished project. I get a lot of complements on the canoe when it is on top of my minivan and in the water.  I am always a little surprised when complete strangers pace around my van checking out every detail or when they say things like” it’s the nicest canoe I’ve seen”.

Regarding my latest project, now that all the cloth is in place (about 5 -6 layer of 9.5 oz) in my female mold for a solid glass canoe, I will do a test with six layers of scrap cloth to see if it wets out ok by hand with a brush. If I can get the canoe to release easier than the first one from this mold, figure out the correct amount of fiberglass to use, to keep the weight of this “pack” canoe to a minimum, and I make a few sales, then I will take it to the next level with vacuum bagging.

Thanks again for getting me on the right track. I have taught Industrial Arts/ Technology Ed. for the past 30 years and used MAS with my students when making strip canoes. Thanks for a great product.

Take care,

Doug Hackett
DGHJ.Etsy.com
dhackett1@nycap.rr.com

PS: The canoe/mold that I designed at my house here in Glens Fall, NY is quite unique because the gunwales are made at the same time as the hull so all I have to do is slip in two wooden thwarts and two wooden handles into 8 small “cups” along the top. I designed it this way because my goal is to make a very lightweight, strong, pack canoe the fastest way possible because there is a big demand for them up here.   I will be able to sell a lot of them. If you know anyone that would like to partner with me, please direct them to my web site or e-mail address.   Thanks.

While they use MAS for some applications, he hasn’t ever used it to build back a bottom. He has used other epoxies for years and was concerned about the time it would take to wet through the glass with traditional brands. I had to remind him that our MAS Low Viscosity resin is formulated for just such projects… ease of wet out of heavy fabric and, yes, even mat! Yet another disaster avoided……remember epoxy is the right choice for all repairs to polyester and vinyl ester hulls and parts. Exceptional water barrier ability and adhesion value make it the right product to use. Also remember low VOCs and odor. If you want to know more, check out this article About Epoxies, Vinyl Esters and Polyesters in the Epoxy School/”How to” sections of our website.

JB Currell
609 332 3866
Jb@masepoxies.com

PS – Congratulations to our good friend, Allison Langley, for having two limited edition prints represented by Pottery Barn.

 Mark has built some of the most amazing racing runabouts anywhere in the world. Boats designed by George Crouch, Gar Wood, Hacker to name a few. But these aren’t your run of the mill race boats.  These boats sport Rolls Royce engines Hispano Swissa better known as a “Hisso” built buy the most talented mechanics in the world and rocking with power…each cylinder is 1020cc’s. They’re massive!.

Mark is just finishing up a boat called “Scotty Too”. Hull and frames were built by Steve White and Brooklin Boat Yard in Brooklin, Maine.  Check out the pics I got!  This is a new boat can you believe it! Simply stunning, thanks for sharing Mark and for building with MAS Epoxy.

I was more pleased to be able to go with two great travel partners, Sam Devlin of Devlin Designing Boat Builders and Jim Miller of WoodenBoat magazine.  

At METS, I loved the hardware and accessories from Europe that you don’t see everyday in the US. Sam and I are awed by the sexy Italian metalwork, and the cleats aren’t bad either!  There was everything from adjustable props for mega yachts to a new thruster system for new and retrofit boats that uses a central pump and hoses to the bow and stern. Quiet and cost effective. Very cool!

 I have to say though the highlight of the trip was the tour of the replica Dutch trader from the 1800′s Batavia. This is a traditionally built replica of a ship that sank off of New Guinea on it’s maiden voyage.  Lots of fun to get a tour of such a huge vessel.

 After the Batavia, we continued being “good” tourists, taking tours of the canals and the Dutchmasters  museum. Very cool ship models and paintings of sea battles.  And of course we had to also take the tour of the Sailors Bar reportedly the oldest bar in Amsterdam. Yes it’s in the red light district and very entertaining!!!!! 

 We happened upon a bookstore which carried Sam’s famous book on boatbuilding. Who’d have thought! The owner of the store got Sam to sign a copy for his own collection.  Sam and I picked up some ink and pen drawings as souvenirs from the early 1900′s.

Amsterdam is not known for it’s food but Sam, Jim and I share an affinity for good cigars and I would have to say Amsterdam has one of the best cigar shops in the world…served with a fine Port in a private room with marble walls, fine Oak trim and floors.  It was like something out of an old movie. This is what Old guys consider fun!

Well enough of Amsterdam for now, although I hope to go back in a few months.