Glue strong enough to hold small work lights/ light bar on finished gelcoat

[tonkatoy87uk]

Evening.

I'm looking to mount some lights on the front of the boat under the lip of the roof. Not wanting to drill holes through the fiberglass, is there a glue or resin that would be strong enough to mount a bar with to hold 2 -4 worklights/leds.?

 

[prv]

Epoxy would certainly do the job, but you'd have to lightly grind or seriously sand the gelcoat to give it a good surface to bond to. If your "no drill" policy really means leaving the existing fibreglass completely untouched then nothing's going to stick to it reliably.

After grinding, I would paint both surfaces with a thin layer of unthickened epoxy to ensure it gets right into the small gaps in the material, then add microfibres to the rest of the mix to thicken it up and ensure it fills any larger gaps between the two parts.

Some suitable stainless machine screws and nuts will be neater, probably stronger, and easier (assuming you can get access to the inside) though. When are you expecting to take this bar off again?

Pete

 

[saxonpirate]

Take the polish of the gel to give a key and pop your lights up with some white Sikaflex. Hold them in place with tape until cured. Unless these lights are extremely heavy, Sikaflex should be more than able to do your job with the minimum of fuss.. :encouragement:

 

[Cockaigne]

CT1

 

[matthewriches]

I fit a lot of solar panels with Sika to both boats and vans, campers, etc so sure that’s probably solve your issue!

 

[sailorman]

industrial velcro might work

 

[Skylark]

industrial velcro might work

Good idea.......or possibly 3M Command picture hanging strips. I have some empathy with the OP as I don't like drilling holes in my boat. I've successfully used picture hanging strips. Easy, no mess removal, too.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

It depends upon on how light/heavy are the fittings.
If dealing with strips of LEDs on a flat plastic base I would use ordinary contact adhesive. Easily removed and any residue remaining can be shifted, using diesel or penetrating oil, leaving no marks.

 

[tonkatoy87uk]

Thanks for the reply's

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162762612410

I'm thinking something like these, they are for when we have to stand up the front of the boat to pull the anchor in the dark etc. As Arvor's brilliant idea of tinting windows means you cant see jack in the dark unless your out of the cabin. not only is it a struggle to see where your going but you cant see the person standing on the front doing the winch (2 mman operation . 1 on the button feeding line back into the box whilst the other drives forward to take the strain off) or if he went splash.

also the reason why I didnt want to bolt through the fiberglass is if we were to slip and grab said bar I wouldn't want to rip it out and cracking the roof although saying that it would probbaly end up going through the window any way ha.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

One problem with LED lights is that, if you accidentally look directly at them, you can wave good-bye to your night vision for several minutes.

 

[QBhoy]

CT 1 will undoubtably do it.