Gluing strips to inner stems

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Glen Smith
Posts: 3719
Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Gluing strips to inner stems

Post by Glen Smith »

While at the WCHA reunion and Bear Mountain Rendezvous in Peterborough, I saw two fellows building a canoe and they used an interesting technique that I had never seen before.

They used 5 minute epoxy in the twin syringes to glue the strip ends to the inner stems. This allowed them to move on with the stripping much faster than waiting for wood glue to dry. A small amount of epoxy was dispensed into a plastic container, mixed and applied in small dabs to the inner stems after the strip was basically in place with wood glue along the cove.

In areas where the strips transition from a more horizontal position at the bilge to a vertical position on the stems, they would also apply a drop of 5 minute epoxy in the cove about every 3" or 4" along the first 2' at each end. Wood glue was applied between the dabs of epoxy and along the rest of the cove. This made it easier to obtain tight joints near the ends where we usually have trouble making the strips "obey".

I will be trying this on my next project. :wink

I believe this technique could also be used on boats that don't have an inner stem by gluing the mitered strip ends together with 5 minute epoxy.
Ben Arnott
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Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 6:18 pm

Re: Gluing strips to inner stems

Post by Ben Arnott »

This makes a whole lot of sense to me. I plan to try this myself. Has anyone had any experience with this method?
alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
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Re: Gluing strips to inner stems

Post by alick burt »

I haven't done this with epoxy but have just built my most recent canoe with 5 minute polyurethane and bungees.No need to wait between strips there!
See another poor man's staple-less technique
Cheers Alick
KenC
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: Oakville, ON

Re: Gluing strips to inner stems

Post by KenC »

A heat gun works wonders to accelerate ordinary wood glue, as well. The cockpit coaming on my kayak contains about 220 individual pieces of wood, which would have taken far too long if I was waiting 20-30 minutes for glue to cure between sticks. Just hold the piece in place with one hand (inside of a thick leather work glove) and wave the heat gun back & forth along the joint for 10 or 15 seconds, and there's enough tack to walk away and begin preparing the next piece. Maybe a little longer considering the additional stresses in the strip at the stem, but that's probably the method I'll use at the stem on my next build.
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