What type of adhesive to use?

[chris151]

I'm replacing the deck in the fiberglass hull of my boat. The old deck was rotton due to the boat being over 30 years old. I reinforced stringers and made the boat sound again for its age. I'm going to put down 1/2 inch marine plywood. But, noticed that when I was cutting and tearing out the old stuff, I failed to leave a lip for the plywood to lay down onto on one side of the long portion (5ft.) of the boat. I'm going to opt and go with putting a wooden strip lip along the long portion, but don't know what the best adhesive to use for bonding wood against fiberglass? Also, to in order to not add uneeded weight, I'm going to use something like 1/4 round, unless someone has any other suggestions? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: What type of adhesive to use?

Welcome to iBoats!

You don't need any kind of wood "LIP" to attach the deck to. Here's the recommended method for producing and installing a deck. You'll need unwaxed Laminating Polyester Resin, 1.5oz CSM(chopped strand mat) and 1708 biaxial cloth. Precoat the plywood with the resin. After it drys coat it again and then while still wet apply the mat and add more resin to get a good wet out. When that drys, do a light sanding with 60 grit. Apply more resin and then lay the 1708 and apply more resin to get a good wet out. Make sure to go up the sides of the hull about 8-10 inches like the drawing shows. Use thickened resin(mix cabosil and chopped fibers to the consistency of peanut butter) to fill the gap between the deck and the sides of the hull.

(click the pick to enlarge)