Contact cement question

Can I use contact cement to attach 3/8" thick pieces of pine ( four pieces 2" x 8" long to the side of a kevlar canoe)?



I was going to glass them, but think contact cement with a couple of coats of epoxy would be quicker and neater.

It seems plausable to me, since I have always used it to bond laminate counter top to plywood but wanted to know what some of you pros think.



jack L


Guess it would be material information
… to know the purpose of the wood. If it’s just for decoration I think contact cement would be fine.

My Guess It Will Separate Fast
And you’ll have to remove and clean up the residue. So maybe 3M 2 part polyurethane glue would be a better temporary solution. Or if permanenet? Go with 2 part marine resorcinol glue.

JACK !!! DO NOT DO THIS !!!
If you don’t have time to do it right …



Please just lightly sand for prep and use thickened epoxy … Even some kind of construction adhesive would be better.



Double tape perimeter ‘footprint’ + the part.



Set in place, wipe excess and get whatever size fillet you want going … Pull 1st ply of tape … Clean up filet again to as perfect as you want … Pull last ply of tape and touch up to perfection …

contact cement is waterproof …

– Last Updated: Jun-15-13 9:40 AM EST –

...... the hull side is non porus , the wood side is porus .

Contact cement works well on both porus and non porus surfaces .

Sealing the thin pine blocks is a must regarless what you use to bond them to the hull .

The little wood blocks you described certainly can't be being ask to do much work stress wise , so the contact cement will do the job as good as anything else ... it's not going to seperate as long as the wood isn't allowed to absord moisture .

And even if it does seperate one day , so what , it will be clean .

Just what are you asking the wood blocks to do ??

Have you ever seen what happens to an old countertop when it's left outside for years . The contact layer of ply (top layerr) seperates from the others and is still stuck to the laminate .

Sheet metal screws.
Consistent with the spirit of redneck improvisation.

But then every time I take a screw out…
water comes peeing in the screw hole !



Jack L

The guys are right on wood saturating
no matter what you use … The wood will eventually soak to the bond line and pop off unless its sealed up.



I don’t know how much gap you need to bridge Jack but another nice materal for blocks is simple cutting board plastic … Cheap, EZ to cut and shape and will hold a screw … Also it will bond ok. … You still have 1/2 a tube of 5200 right !! LOL



O.K. Part two …If these are 1/4-20 threads on the footbraces … Personally I would not be bonding anything and I WOULD be through bolting with plastic blocks as needed spacers inside and be done.



Apologies to smooth exterior canoe guys.

What!!!
Come on Pog, that 2 part 3m polyurethane adhesive use to come in a small cardboard box with two separate small tubes inside to mix together. It held my big compass and water bottles through the surf. Now I can’t find this adhesive anymore. Also, I’m not talking about the permanent 5200 stuff.



I used Bordens Marine Resorcinol to repair a large crack in the wooden roller furling for my P-Cat’s jib, which was always out in 20+ kt winds. Now I can’t find this too anymore.



All the good stuff gone.

I would agree with Pat except
Of all the paddlers I have lost to jackL and Nanci use the least amount of leg drive FOR THE MOST effect stroke per mile of any one! Yes they use their legs but not enough to weaken a hull. It is pleasure to watch them paddle off into the distance.

This is the voice of experience speaking , I have lost to a lot of great padders!

There are no threads.
Just holes for rivets, bolts or screws.



Jack L

O.K. still vote for through bolt 'em.

Found It 3M Scotch-Weld 3532 B/A
Urethane Adhesive at Pack-N-Tape for $28 a case of 6.



Can’t buy them individually anymore. Hasn’t damaged my fiberglass decks yet where I glued down some D rings.



Better than contact cement in the waves.

OK, it is done- as of the morning
With much cursing and swearing, and with the help, and advice from Pat(onno), Charlie, (Bald Paddler) and my favorite paddling partner, Nanci.



Here is the story, (saga): I was trying to install a Wenonah foot brace in my Jensen 17’.

Wenonah said it would fit. Their foot brace side tracks are supposed to be the right length to go between their foam ribs which jut out 3/8" into the canoe.

It was just the opposite, and the rib was in the middle of where the slide should go, which meant I had to bridge the foot brace. I originally made up little 3/8" inch pine blocks and rivited them from the outside with two rivits in each. The only problem was the rivits caused the wood to split. Now I was stuck with four rivits on each side of the canoe that was holding nothing.

My next thought was to use contact cement to hold new blocks over the existing rivits, (just file the inside of the rivits off), but everyone here talked me out of it- Thank you.

Here is where Pat came in when he suggested using a 3/8" cutting board for the blocks and through bolting throught them, ( Nanci had originally suggested that).

I cut the rivits off from the inside, and forced them back out from the outside, so now I had to use their holes for the bolts. I couldn’t use bolts since the inside nut would interfer with the tracks, so I setteled for stainless sheet metal screws. the holes were took big for small diameter screws, so I got 3/4 inch long ones, and cut them down to a size that wouldn’t go all the way through the plastic blocks, (making machine screws out of them) and then drilled holes in each block slightly smaller, so the screws would be self tapping.

This all worked wonderful and on the outside I used a rubber washer with a stainless washer over it.

After getting one side done, I stood back to admire my work and realized that it looked like a monstrosity. Then it dawned on me that several years ago Bald Paddler (Charlie) had sent me some large head rivits which would be just the ticket, so I removed the machine screws and redid the work with the rivits without the rubber washers and stainless washers, and lo and behold, this morning I completely finished the project, and believe it or not it looks professional!



Any one need any 3/8" home made stainless machine crews? I have eight of them



You should hear the cursing I did on their sliding seat which also had to be re engineered



Jack L