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Glue for a foam strip construction

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Mp214parks

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Hey all. Hope everyone is surviving the current situation!

I am building a foam strip. I chose this method for a few reasons. Now I am looking for pros and cons of different types of adhesive for the stripping itself. It seems I have three options:
Epoxy - con is hard to sand evenly and going to burn through syringes applying it and more labor intensive. Pro is its strength.
Gorilla glue- not sure. Seems like it would be fast and easy and strong. But probably hard to sand still.
Spray foam insulation - not sure how adhesive it is

Any experience on this topic ? Thanks guys. Stay healthy!
 
How thick is the foam you are planning to use ! Is this going to be like a stripper build ? If you plan to Titebond ?

No experience on my part, just thoughts !

Jim
 
1/2”. Yep just like a cedar strip. I found some spray foam made by lock tite that is denser, more adhesive and sand able.
 
There was a dude on this forum someplace in Europe that did a foam hull
Not exactly strips but more like planks
I remember asking him about which glue he used and how he held the foam to his forms but his responses were sort of cryptic

I’ll be watching closely, I have quite a bit of H80 foam that I bought really cheap, I just need a place to live and work and I’ll be doing a foam composite too! In case you don’t remember, I’m currently homeless.

i should think any glue that can work on the foam would be fine, after all, it only has to hold until you get it glassed
 
So are you planning to bevel the foam, for a tight fit ? or are you just going to glue the 90 degree edges.
If you bevel for tight joints Titebond would work ?

If there are gaps to fill, maybe a Chalking tube adhesive. This last Summer, we picked up a tube of Chalking called " Big Stretch " for a garage door installation. It was kind of spendy but it worked great on the vinyl trim and Cedar siding. It didn't harden, but it did dry with great adhesion, n Not very sandable though.

I'm sure there is less expensive stuff out there that would serve your propose. Experiment with some Chalking tube stuff.

Interesting. I'm looking forward to pics !

Jim
 
Ok jury is in. Gorilla glue is definitely the good stuff. It foams to fill the little cracks. It sands just like foam. Any large gaps can be filled with spray foam. This build is going really fast. Other than the added cost of the foam ($180 per sheet) I really like using this method so far. I did some sample fairing and of course that is way faster than cedar.
 
Ben,
Congrats on the progress...Now put up some photos so us plebes can drool over them....please.
You're using 1/2" thick foam? Is it Divinycell or some other foam made for laminating? Is the $180's worth of foam enough to build the whole boat? It usually costs me around $200 for cedar, so I'd call that a win, especially at 1/4 of the density.
Oh, and are you stapling the foam to your forms? I vaguely remember someone using hot glue to hold their foam temporarily in place.
 
Ok. Ok. Here’s a few!
1/2” divinicel. This one will need 2-3 sheets, but it’s a big canoe. I’d say a 16’ would take two sheets. I am tracking them on with a 23 gauge finish nailer. A lot of times it needs a cedar strip tacked onto the outside to hold it down. But that’s pretty quick. At any rate a 9/16” staple won’t cut it. It sands like butter. I doubt I’ll ever do a cedar one again.
 

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Ben,
Your pics are worth thousands of words!
I assumed (wrongly so) that you cut your strips out of the 1/2" foam the same way as you would with a plank of cedar...ripping strips that are 3/16" to 1/4" thick. Now I see that you kept the 1/2" thick foam as the thickness, and ripped your foam strips to width.
That's gonna be a crazy stiff hull when you're done!!

As I'm showing these pics to MDB, she commented that your method of foam strips is much better than my planned (and as yet not implemented) method of heat forming large sheets.
I checked some yesterday, and H80 is available in both 3/16" and 1/4" thicknesses, although the 3/16" stuff is more expensive than the 1/4" stuff.
Maybe some combination of wider strips (almost a plank) in the straighter hull sections, and narrower strips in the more twisty sections of the hull. Man, I need a house and a shop!!

How did you cut your strips? Band saw, table saw, Skilsaw, hot wire?

All in all, it looks like you've got the future of strip building in your hands.
Congrats again.

So what's the plan for laminating? Glass? Carbon-Innegra? And then what for finishing? Paint? Leave it natural?
 
https://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Tools-.../dp/B00KM0RLUU

thats the blade I used. I ripped a sheet in half then ran them through the table.

as to width, I wouldn’t think using thinner than 1/2” would not work very well just because it wouldn’t be stiff enough to fair.

layup: 8 oz basalt innegra and 8 oz s glass and paint/ gel coat on out side. Basalt innegra and 3 oz s glass with clear coat on inside. Wooden gunwales and carbon seats/trim. I’d like to do a foam gunwale but I don’t think I’m ready for that again just yet.
 
Mp214parks said:
https://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Tools-.../dp/B00KM0RLUU

thats the blade I used. I ripped a sheet in half then ran them through the table.

as to width, I wouldn’t think using thinner than 1/2” would not work very well just because it wouldn’t be stiff enough to fair.

layup: 8 oz basalt innegra and 8 oz s glass and paint/ gel coat on out side. Basalt innegra and 3 oz s glass with clear coat on inside. Wooden gunwales and carbon seats/trim. I’d like to do a foam gunwale but I don’t think I’m ready for that again just yet.
Click to expand...

Now this is getting INTERESTING !!!

The Sabot will make it easy to shape !


AWESOME !
 
Just a Wild thought ! Did you Think about bead and coving the strips ??? Just asking for a friend !

Jim
 
This is really interesting, any way we can talk you into doing an actually build thread if you have more pics .... sounds like quite a few ppl had something similar in mind and you are providing glimpses to get a revolution going.


Brian
 
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