Talk Story with an Advertiser: Pacific Gunite

By Sara Hayashi

From a young age, Peter Epperson has enjoyed building and working with concrete. Backyard projects with his father paved the way to opening his own business, Pacific Gunite, in 1986.

Peter describes his early interest in concrete saying, “I loved how it [can] be shaped and worked and later it becomes stone. It [is] kind of like what Pele does except for the hot part.”

Peter grew up in California where he attended college and worked as a prototype builder for a manufacturing company before moving to Hawai‘i Island in 1975. He learned about the ferrocement technique from a friend and realized it would be perfect for creating water catchment tanks because it is well-suited for curved and free-form shapes. Peter was intrigued by the strength and flexibility of the material and took an idea that was popular in New Zealand, Australia, and Asia, and adapted it to Hawai‘i.

Pacific Gunite products are unique because they are constructed with ferrocement technology, a technique relatively unknown in the United States, which involves a higher than normal ratio of steel in the cement mixture. Ferrocement combines the best of its individual materials, meaning that it can flex without cracking and will not rust. It is considered labor intensive and is most often used in third-world countries. Peter and his team have developed a technique that reduces the labor considerably while still maintaining the quality of the product.

“The first years were hard since even less people back in the ‘80s knew about ferrocement,” Peter says, and as time went on, Pacific Gunite developed a reputation. Their tanks are now regarded as the “most durable and trouble-free tanks,” and Peter estimates that they have built a few thousand water tanks on Hawai‘i Island over the years. He is extremely grateful to his crew, saying, “I wouldn’t have this business without them.”

Pacific Gunite is based out of Mountain View and does most of their work around the island onsite, while Peter’s wife and business partner Rachael, “keeps the wheels turning smoothly.”

Their most popular product is the standard ferrocement water tank for household use, and they also make urns, Japanese-style furo tubs, and cattle troughs that are used at several large cattle ranches and can handle much abuse, even from angry bulls.

Pacific Gunite
808.968.6059
peterepperson@gmail.com
PacificGunite.com