1960s boat building adhesives.

aitchw

aitchw

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Could anyone give me an idea what glue would most likely have been used for cold moulded hulls in the 60s? I don't think epoxy was in use then and I am under the impression that Resourcinol needed heat to set.

Just a matter of curiosity rather than to help solve a problem.

Thanks in anticipation.

Howard
 
Resorcinol only needs pressure to set properly, but it does need rather a lot of it. This is where vacuum bagging comes into its own. Although it can only apply 15 psi, it does apply it evenly all over the work.
Peter.
 
I agree; the most likely glue would have been resorcinol; an excellent adhesive. Vacuum bagging was unknown outside Fairey Marine's "autoclaves" which were used for "hot moulding" (a different process, where heat and pressure were used).

Cold moulding involved stapling veneers over a male mould; the staples were pulled out as each sucessive layer was glued.

Epoxy can be used for repairs on a resorcinol glued hull.

The biggest problem with these hulls is commonly rain water entering the small voids between veneers along the line of the sheer, at the deck edge or the top of the rail, as the case may be, trickling down and causing localised rot. This can be dealt with, if not too far advanced - cut back and glue new veneers in place.
 
Ah, I see. Thanks for that clarification. I had made the assumption that the Fairey autoclave process was primarily about setting the glue and not improvig the flexibility of the veneers and that cold moulding would therefore require a different adhesive.
 
Thanks, Mirelle. I was typing my response to Peterduck at the same time you were responding.

I have some experience of of the Fairey Marine result as I had a Fairey built Albacore which was absolutely sound and original even after 30 years. It was a wonderfully resilient and tough construction method. There's an Atalanta at the yard my little cruiser is stored at in a terrible state of neglect. It breaks my heart to see her every time I go to check my boat. She is not a boat I would want as a first choice but I get very tempted to try and save her. The cost would be prohibitive though.
 
What a shame; there are a couple of absolutely immaculate, and much admired, Fairey Atalantas, near us. We've got a Firefly dinghy which came up "good as new" after a couple of decades of neglect.

But I suspect that the hot moulding process, because it used vaccum, and very precisely engineered moulds, has almost no voids in it, and so hot moulded boats are very much superior, in point of durability, to cold moulded boats of that era. Mind you, there are plenty of cold moulded racers still going.
 
Why do boats evoke such strong protective emotions in us? It's almost irresistable.

The definitive racing Albacore was created by Richard Woof and his brother in the mid to late 70s long after they ceased to be hot moulded and built by Fairey. They refined the hull form within the rules to take advantage of every last scrap of tolerance to create a boat which is still the basis of every top class Albacore. Their boats are still much sort after and are still always represented at the top of the fleet at international level 30 years on.

Of course, the many other designs from Uffa Fox and others and built by Fairey using the process still look impressive to this day. A testament to both the designers and the process.

If I win enough money to retire I might be tempted to restore the Atalanta but like many other folk approaching their 60s I am destined to work until they nail the lid on so both time and funds are very limited.
 
Touche!

Being in just the same situation, I often wonder whether I am justfied in keeping the big boat, but on the other hand I get such fun out of her...

Having said that, if I did, I probably would take on a project of Atalanta type dimensions, if only to get me out of the house at weekends!
 
Fairey used Aerolite supplied by Borden chemicals.

Alan Burnard told me so straight from the horses mouth.

I can vouch for the Fairey hulls, tough as old boots, shame about the ply decks and cabin structure and bulkheads etc.
 
Thanks for that sailorman and burgundyben. I see it is still very much available. From the decription 'water resistant' it would not have been a glue of choice for me given some of the modern glues described the same way and that I know are decidedly not appropriate for boats. Having owned a Fairey built hull though, I would have no doubts about it's use. Time tells all.

Thanks again.
 
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