Boat Building Forum

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

Strip: Opps - I Broke It.
By:Rick Sylvia
Date: 12/5/2002, 8:49 am

Heavy sigh..... I'm building Jay's Outer Island, using stapleless methods. I'm starting on the football area now. But, last night, I went to my boat yard (a garage, in a former life) and noticed that the past 3-4 strips, half way between the cockpit and stern, had popped loose from two forms and were off the forms by about 1/2".

Okay - no biggie. I took my knife and dug out the dried hot glue, then started applying some pressure to get them back on the forms and reglue. Well, the glue wouldn't hold it, even if I held the strips in place long after the glue hardened. Dug the glue out and retried. Went through that cycle about 4 times.

Plan two - I decided that maybe just a few staples wouldn't hurt, so I applied pressue to push the strips back to the forms and popped a staple into it. Staple didn't hold. Popped another staple, that one didn't hold.

Plan three - took out the hammer and a few brads, and it held. I hammered thru a piece of scrap first to ensure that I could pull the brad out later.
Also, I'll stick a toothpick size sliver in the hole before sanding and so forth.

THE PROBLEM & QUESTION ===> Through all the above, I broke what must have been a weak glue joint to begin with, a couple of strips down. Is that a big deal? I'm thinking that the epoxy and fiberglassing will negate the broken glue joint. I'm thinking that I should forget it, and forge ahead. Is that right, or do I really need to address that joint? Oh, the strips themselves are in good shape with no gaps - it's just that if you push your finger against the strip, you can see that it's not glued to the other. Otherwise, you'd never know. The length of the unglued joint is about 6".

Thanks for the help!

Rick

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Opps - I Broke It.
Rick Sylvia -- 12/5/2002, 8:49 am
Re: Strip: Opps - I Broke It. *LINK* *Pic*
Bobby Curtis -- 12/5/2002, 12:20 pm
Re: Strip: Opps - I Broke It.
Marcel Rodriguez -- 12/5/2002, 4:16 pm
Re: Strip: Opps - I Broke It.
Shawn Baker -- 12/5/2002, 11:01 am
Re: Strip: Opps - I Broke It. *LINK*
Kurt Loup, Baton Rouge -- 12/5/2002, 9:28 am