In the beginning

The Gougeon brothers – Meade, Joel and Jan – grew up building and racing wooden boats on Lake Huron, Michigan, in the United States. They raced on water in the summer and on ice in the winter. In the 1960s they began building boats professionally and experimented with practical, low-cost and versatile methods of construction.

Fast and strong

They wanted to build fast, lightweight boats that were tough and strong enough to survive the high loads of hard racing. With limited time and money, their methods couldn’t be fussy or expensive.

The power of epoxy

The answer lay in a recent development of epoxide resins and hardeners. These were solvent-free and – crucially for boatbuilding – formed an exceptionally good barrier against both water and oxygen, which cause wood rot.

Puncturing myths

As if to prove a point, here is a photo of ‘Adagio’: built in wood epoxy composite by Meade Gougeon, this catamaran is lighter today than it was when Meade built it in 1968, providing first hand proof of the exceptional qualities and benefits of using WEST SYSTEM epoxy.

Flexibility and strength

Realising that a boat’s ability to withstand a single impact was not as important as its long-term resistance to the daily assaults of wind and water, the brothers set about the task of modifying the epoxy formulations until they found the best balance between many crucial factors including flexibility, moisture resistance and high strength.

Safe working practices

The brothers honed their techniques to reduce labour and, at the same time, to establish safe handling procedures for the new epoxy system. Just as they aimed for a balance between cured physical properties, so they looked for – and found – formulations that were effective and low in toxicity.

Extreme testing

We began marketing WEST SYSTEM® epoxy and associated products in 1982; Gougeon Brothers began 10 years earlier. Since then, we have continued to improve our methods and materials. WEST SYSTEM epoxy has always been strong, but it was only through intensive test programmes that we discovered the true extent of its physical properties, and in particular the ability to withstand repeated loads.

Other industries

Not surprisingly, perhaps, It was not long before boatbuilding techniques were applied to volume production of high-quality aerofoils in other industries. By the 1980s, Gougeon Brothers had become a leading manufacturer of laminated wind turbine blades, thus gaining further invaluable experience and knowledge on the performance of WEST SYSTEM epoxy.

The industry standard

The methods first developed by the Gougeon brothers using WEST SYSTEM® epoxy have become the standard techniques taught in colleges the world over for building boats with epoxy.

Introducing PRO-SET

Half a century on, our product lines have all the epoxide resins, hardeners and associated ancillary products to produce strong, moisture and fatigue-resistant epoxies suitable for an extremely wide range of common and specialist applications. Our PRO-SET® range has set the bar for the world’s most demanding, high-tolerance professional composite applications.

About Wessex Resins and Adhesives

Wessex Resins and Adhesives has been developing and manufacturing high-quality epoxy products since 1981. During this time we have worked with a large range of organisations that demand specialist formulations, including the Ministry of Defence, London Underground, Bombardier and BAE Systems.

Wessex Resins and Adhesives products are trusted for a wide variety of specialist applications. These range from adhesives that can be mixed, applied and cured underwater, to our flooring adhesives, which include a specialist epoxy that has low smoke and low toxicity characteristics in the event of a fire.

In addition, we provide the renowned WEST SYSTEM® and PRO-SET® and Entropy Resins® products, through our Wessex Resins division. These durable, high-quality epoxies are the adhesives of choice for naval engineers, boat manufacturers, chandlers and private boat owners throughout the world.

Thanks to our expert knowledge and skills, we are also one of the very few companies able to develop bespoke epoxies for niche and unique applications. Our chemists and technical team will work with organisations to formulate customised solutions that meet individual requirements.

Other organisations will partner with us as part of a ‘toll manufacturing’ arrangement, in which their own capabilities are augmented by our specialist equipment and over three decades of expertise in the adhesive and coating field.

We partner with many channel suppliers, who rely on the quality of our trusted products to meet the needs of their own customers.

In all cases, we go the extra mile to share our expertise and first-class technical support services. Wherever possible, this extends beyond our partners to the end-user.

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