TOPIC: Gorilla Glue?

When replacing wood stringers and braces in boats would it make sense to bond them to the hull with Gorilla glue first? Whenever I take a boat apart, I see the resin never fully contacted the wood supports. The hump of cloth covers the wood and keeps it in place. but there are usually gaps between the hull floor and the wood. Since Gorilla glue did not exist mid-century, I think it might be a great tool for restoration. It seems to bond to almost anything.

Gorilla Glue is a great product but, I recommend using aeromarine epoxy glue aeromarineproducts.com use the 300/11 mix. I just put my entire race boat together with it... made a mistake and tried to break the bond, ended up breaking the bulkhead instead.

Jetboat is correct. After being in the woodworking industry for over 40 years, epoxy glue is great. Also you can try wood resin glue. It comes as a powder and is a little less expensive than epoxy. You should mix it with the resin part and not water. Gorilla glue is really not for marine applications. The powder is sold under the name of Weldwood and is sold just about every where. Good luck.

I'm not sure which forum I saw this posted, but it was mentioned in more then 1 place.....

When bedding hard surfaces,especially stringers & motor mounts, to hulls & fiberglass, there should be a bedding surface (thick bead of poly/epoxy thickened to fillet consistency, or heavy bead of PL [liq nails, etc] applied & maintained under the stringer until the bedding cures. They recommended suspending stringers from above, or using shims to lift stringer and tabbing PL between them, then after cure sets, remove shims & in-fill PL.

I have worked with gorilla before & loved setting hardwood stairs & nosings with it. Future re-modelers in Ky, Ca & Utah will hate me one day I'm sure..... It's great to use in certain places, not sure if hull stringer is that place. I have yet to start my 1st project so I am not speaking from experience, so... Take my comment with an appropriately sized grain of salt. But started lurking in resto forums a week ago... Have 2 solid candidates pending...

This was IMHO only (!): mostly because it tends to expand & force poorly nailed/clamped/screwed joints apart & once cured is very unforgiving.

What I did when I replaced some wood inside the boat was I roughed the fiberglass up with a jitterbug with 40 grit and made a keyway in the wood keel I was replacing. I mixed a nice glob of fiberglass tigerhair up and spread it in the area under where the wood was to be and pressed it in to fit and put the brass screws in. I put weight on it for a spell too. It has never moved. In this pic it was the piece to the extreme left with a 2x4 going verticle for seat support.

Alright, so here's the poop. Or in this case, the Gorilla poop. Gorilla glue is classified as a "gas" glue due to the gas that is produced when it comes in contact with water. It is a polyureathane glue and depending on its application, it's good for some things. Outdoor furniture, etc. However, where a watertight seal is recommended, I really gotta go with Jetboat on this one. Bar none, epoxy glues are superior adhesives.

No matter how accurately you try to cut new framing members, they will not contact the fiberglass hull their entire length...and you can't glue gaps. I bed all stringers and lateral supports with a giant glob of 3M 5200. Let the "squoze" come out the cracks...who cares? The only person that will see it will be the next restorer. and he'll be damned lucky to break those stringers loose!

I have to agree with Nautilus. The 3M 5200 is great stuff and will not come apart. Don Danenberg has been using that stuff for years on wood boat restoration, making them "dry bottoms".

Bob