Recommend me a wood glue...

[Iain C]

Some may remember I have a 1965 Flying Fifteen restoration project (a cold moulded, gentleman's afternoon racing craft for shouting "mast abeam" from whilst quaffing G&T and scoffing at those impractical flying Moth contraptions...)

She's been sheltering in a barn for the winter (and is dry as a bone!) and is now back in my back garden getting sorted out. Obviously structural stuff will be epoxied, but can anyone recommend a good, strong, waterproof glue for the less structural bits?

The biggest test will be the gunwales...I will be putting new ones on, 20' each side with the minimum of screws! Need some good glue for that...ideally one pot, fairly goopy, which dries clear. Bogging those on with epoxy will be OTT and a bit of a pain!

Thanks!

 

[Tranona]

Polyurethane one pot such as Pur Glue. Moisture curing, gap filling (but not structural) and easy to clean off surplus. Stains hands so best to wear gloves.

 

[tillergirl]

Agree with Tranona, a PU glue would be ideal. Semperoc is the replacement for Balcotan - one pot, fairly gloopy and dries clearish.

 

[Stemar]

I've never used on the boat, but I've repaired a couple of chairs with Gorilla Glue. It seems to be pretty strong and claims to be completely waterproof. It froths up to fill imperfect joins, which is handy if your wood butchery skills are as advanced as mine.

 

[Iain C]

Cheers guys...I'll try Gorilla Glue then as Screwfix carry it and will be in the delivery I've just ordered together with a few acres of sandpaper!

 

[jwilson]

I've never used on the boat, but I've repaired a couple of chairs with Gorilla Glue. It seems to be pretty strong and claims to be completely waterproof. It froths up to fill imperfect joins, which is handy if your wood butchery skills are as advanced as mine.

I have used it too, super bond when wood bits screwed or clamped close together, but don't rely on joint strength any sort of gap-filler. I call it 7 day glue, because if you get it on your fingers it takes 7 days to come off.

 

[srp]

By all means use PU glue if you want, but I wouldn't as it has such a short open time. With 20' of gunwhale, and presumably at least 20 G cramps, you'll be hard pushed to get it all in position and cramped up quickly enough unless you've got a couple of helpers. I'd use epoxy every time for this sort of thing.

 

[maxcampbell]

I'd use epoxy every time for this sort of thing.

Same here. You've got epoxy already, you're learning how to use it, why faff about with some non-boaty s**t from screwfix? I built 2 boat kits, using epoxy all round, then tried making up a mast crutch with Balcotan PU on old oak - damn thing fell apart before I could use it. Maybe the wood was too dry, maybe I made a mistake - who knows, but after 5 years of use I still haven't had an epoxy joint fail. Why look further? If you want easier cleaning up, try using acetone on a rag before the epoxy is cured.

 

[andygc]

Cascamite was a normal glue to use for this sort of job in the past before epoxy was readily available. It's still around and it still works perfectly well. It's easy to mix - powder and water by weight or volume, and excess wipes off with a damp cloth (but if you don't wipe it off and let it go hard it's as difficult to get off as epoxy). There's also Cascophen, but that's a two-pack. Both have the advantage of not being as temperature sensitive as epoxy, and neither of them requires any hurry when clamping up.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Cascamite was a normal glue to use for this sort of job in the past before epoxy was readily available. It's still around and it still works perfectly well. It's easy to mix - powder and water by weight or volume, and excess wipes off with a damp cloth (but if you don't wipe it off and let it go hard it's as difficult to get off as epoxy). There's also Cascophen, but that's a two-pack. Both have the advantage of not being as temperature sensitive as epoxy, and neither of them requires any hurry when clamping up.

Of those two I would suggest Cascophen at it is much more forgiving of movement. Cascamite can be very brittle.