Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: As I said once this week: We fought this before
By:Alex Jackson
Date: 10/12/1998, 10:13 pm

> I believe we all agree that epoxy is "much stronger" than glue.
> That is sufficient support for my statement for my purposes. I don't want
> to fight about the following. The epoxy between the strips bonds the
> outside glass to the inside glass better than wood or glue simply because
> epoxy bonds better to epoxy than to wood or glue. See the thread on CPES.
> Finally, in case of damage the epoxy will limit water penetration better
> than glue will.

Doesn't the weakest link principle apply. If the wood will fail before the glue, why does stronger glue make any difference? Does putting a length of chain between two pieces of rope make the rope stronger? Your logic doesn't make any sense.

Isn't the wood between the cloth being compressed? Why is it important that the two layers be held together? When do they get forces strong enough to rip them apart?

Is the small amount of glue between the strips enough to make a difference? Do you leave large gaps between your strips? If the strips are tight the, edge the fiberglass must bond to is so small I can't imagine a weak bond being a significant problem.

Have you ever heard of a strip-built boat falling apart because of water penetrating through glue lines?

Is this really a practical concern or is using epoxy between strips fixing a problem that doesn't exist? I'm all for doing things the best way but if using epoxy is only going to make a 1% difference it doesn't seem worth it.

Messages In This Thread

Re: As I said once this week: We fought this before
Alex Jackson -- 10/12/1998, 10:13 pm