Old Strip Planking and adhesives

Timbow

Timbow

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I am looking at buying a folkboat. I have seen a couple which appear to be strip planked, that is the planks are glued together. They date from the 60s and 70s.

Am I right to think they predate epoxy? If so what adhesive might have been used and is it going to fall apart after 40yrs?
 
If its pre-epoxy, might be cascamite or aerolite. Cascamite is dark purple and aerolite is clear. AFAIK.
 
Aerolite is a white milky sort of colour, my boat is built with aerolight, now 42 years old and the laminates are holding up very well, I have found that in areas where the wood has softened the first layer of aerolite has made an excellent barrier.

FYI - my hull is 7 layers of agba, each 1/8 inch thick, hot moulded.
 
A reddish purple glue line is Resorcinol glue such as Aerodux or Cascophen, still reckoned to be one of the best glues ever & often used on strip planked hulls.
Cascamite has a creamy glue line, Aerolite is clear, both urea formaldehydes the latter is a better glue probably due to less air in it due to its method of use with premixed glue & separate hardener.
 
If it is going to fall apart it will have done so by now. The signs are obvious, splits along the glue lines where the bond fails. If the frames are sound there is no reason why the strips should move so it is usually glue failure. Aerolite is in theory not so durable, but as others have said in practice many boats have lasted well.
 
My boat must be built with Cascophen then, always thought it was cascamite?? Because my glue lines and cascover is definitely purplish. Thanks for the heads up.
 
I have a hull built this way east german folkboat [around 1960]and the planks are still very well glued together planks are 1 3/4 " wide....dont know what glue used...
the frames never last though...
 
"I have a hull built this way east german folkboat"

Thank you for unconfusing me. One of these Folkboats was E German and very tidy. I couldn't see any caulking lines and thought she was strip planked but then couldn't understand why there are so many ribs in them. What purpose do steamed ribs serve if the planks are glued?

She has been out of the water for 12 months and more now. Is that a bad thing?

The other strip planked Folkboat was built in Cardiff in the 70s and had hardly any frames or ribs at all.
 
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