Brothers Inc. celebrated 50 years in business, with a party in Bay City, Michigan!

50 Anniversary 3

Friends, and business partners from all over the world came together to celebrate the monumental celebration for Gougeon Brothers Inc. at Bay City, Michigan, including our very own directors at ATL­­ Composites; Lorraine Murray and Nicholas Cossich. Over the last 50 years, Gougeon Brothers have grown from a modest boat shop that began experimenting with epoxy in the late 1960s, to a trusted manufacturer, and supplier of epoxies worldwide.

1969 Dn Iceboats1 (1)

So, let’s go back in time, to where it all started for the Gougeon Brothers…Brothers Meade and Jan Gougeon begin building DN class iceboats with wood and epoxy, selling 200 iceboats between 1969 and 1974.

“Where we got really lucky in our quest for epoxy technology, was to be located 17 miles east of Dow Chemical Co. We introduced Herbert Dow (an avid sailor and the grandson of Dow Chemical’s founder) to iceboating. Herbert made it possible for us to work with chemists in Dow’s epoxy lab, helping us to develop resins and hardeners we could use as both, an adhesive and a coating,” said company founder Meade Gougeon.

Brothers Inc Celebrated 50 Years 1

Before Gougeon Brothers Meade and Jan got involved with epoxy, early epoxy systems were difficult to apply as a coating. This led the brothers to look seriously at epoxy formulation, with the goal of solving wood’s most difficult problems: its tendency to absorb moisture, and swell. With Dow’s help, the Gougeon Brothers successfully developed the formulations to solve these problems, and they became the basis of the WEST SYSTEM products today. As they say, the rest is history. WEST SYSTEM epoxy products are now internationally recognised as the leading marine epoxy.
image

During the celebrations at Gougeon Brothers Inc, ATL’s Nicholas Cossich, presented a market research report for the WEST SYSTEM AustralAsian region, providing an insight into the business performance, distribution channels and the operations outside of the USA. The highlight of the presentation showcased fabrication methods on a recently completed project using G/flex 650 & WEST SYSTEM for extensively bonding stainless steel to aluminium on the 276 ft (84m) super yacht trimaran WHITE RABBIT. She is the largest aluminium, and largest tri-hull superyacht in the world. Estimated to be valued at US$ 100 million.

Brothers Inc Celebrated 50 Years 3

ATL Composites, is the licensed manufacturer of WEST SYSTEM epoxy for the AustralAsian region.

Newsletter Signup
Share this great article
Other News
Boats
The 61st Melbourne Boat Show, running 26 to 29 October at Docklands, will for the first time include a Heritage and Wooden Boat precinct, featuring classic timber vessels, restored boats and small craft. Among the businesses and craftspeople on display is The Victorian Wooden Boat Centre, a 1,400-square metre workshop that happens to be located at […]
Products
Three iconic Halvorsen timber motor yachts recently returned to water after three years of meticulous restoration works, relying on the range of WEST SYSTEM products to bring them back to their former glory. An important part of Australian boat building history, Halvorsen boats have been a common sight on waterways around the country for close to 100 […]
Products
The expertise of Gold Coast design and construction company, Sculpt Studios was called on to create and build composite decorative trimmings on a massive scale for a new residential tower on the Gold Coast. Known as Eve Residences, the 25-storey Homecorp-built edifice overlooking the magnificent Broadwater will be a highly-visible jewel among in the vertical […]

Subscribe Form Popup

Share This

Heading

Sub heading here

[FORM_HERE]
TOP POPUP CONTENT HERE...
LEFT POPUP CONTENT HERE...
BOTTOM POPUP CONTENT HERE...

Share This

Select your desired option below to share a direct link to this page