The brothers Gougeon run WEST SYSTEM, a gungho glue company in Bay City, Michigan.
I suppose they could’ve pushed the mainstream huge-account side of their chemical biz, but I think it’s cool that they’ve always remembered the little guys.
The brothers themselves are involved in small boat fun and innovating. Again, they could probably be Big Yacht Gated Community types. But, in particular, they’ve been involved with developing and promoting canoe-sailing.
In the late 1800’s most folks on the water were in sailing canoes and most canoes could be sailed. But canoe sailing died out with the outboard…until these guys and their builder/writer friend Hugh Horton came along. The 50-50 canoe has been reborn.
They also publish a free magazine called “Epoxyworks” full of customer project pics and how-to advice articles. It also has lengthy stories on the heritage of famous exploits involving little guys and glue.
The Fall 2009 issue has a long profile on the history of the pursuit of sailing speed records, a story about how the new G/Flex epoxy was used in the middle of an ocean sailing race to save the day, a living-room restoration of an airplane, and the heritage of the Gougeon Canoe, a project that most of their employees do, often giving their own twist to a little 12-foot base boat.
I especially liked a story in a previous issue where employees reported on their own testing for their hot new G/Flex in repairing boot soles. These folks think outside the box and close to home and share the results.
https://www.epoxyworks.com/
