I think we mostly use contact cement to stick foam outfitting into our kayaks and canoes. Double sided carpet tape could be faster and easier.
Carpet tape. Sound crazy? Well, it wasn’t kayaks, but I recently tested four methods to stick ripstop nylon to foam insulation board. Gorilla glue, Loctite’s Vinyl, Fabric & Plastic glue, hot glue sticks, and carpet tape. Loctite’s vinyl glue worked best, but would have cost too much in the 1 oz tubes sold at the hardware store. Gorilla glue stuck to the foam well, but not the ripstop. Hot glue didn’t really stick to either very well. Carpet tape was the winner, and, I think would stick well to the outer skin of closed cell foam, but have not tested. I expected E6000 glue to be the winner, but the packaging says not to use it on foam, so it didn’t even get in the test.
Regarding carpet tape, the thing I don’t know is how well it will hold up in water. I used the tape on my kinetic sculpture project, which only spent about 15 minutes in Baltimore Harbor, and the tape was still sticking when it came out. I wanted 3M carpet tape, which I read won a model airplane guy’s glue test, but ended up using Ace Hardware’s brand. The product description says it is "water resistant,” which might not be good enough for boating. As I learned to write when I was a research consultant, more study is needed. So, if you give it a try let us know how it turns out.
~~Chip?
I’ll stick with Weldwood Contact Cement
(No pun intended)
It just works perfectly for some things
Jack L
Did you also try
Any of the multitude of exterior grade construction adhesives? The cure time might be longer, but they should hold up to “moisture.”
Tried Liquid Nails
In the 2015 Balletmobile project, I used Liquid Nails Heavey Duty construction adhesive to glue together floats for a kinetic sculpture project.
http://chipwalsh.org/Balletmobile/KSR2015Pics.html
In 2016, I reused some of the floats from the 2015 project. The 2016 didn’t need as much flotation, so i chopped up the floats to make two smaller pontoons. After a test float of the '16 KS project, I decided to remove a layer of the foam, which had been glued together a full year earlier. I thought it was way to easy to peel away that layer, and some of the Liquid Nails adhesive was soft and gooey. So, I’m not sold on construction adhesive for marine use. Possibly, it never dried due to the foil facing on the foam. But, heck, if it can’t dry in a year…?
Moist of the time …
adhesives, as apart from mere glues, are designed by adhesive chemists wring within the oil refining system...the product travels from one vat to the next and....
Thus, moist times what the label sez is what it does...carpet glues are ...carpet glues...and the material the glue rrrrrrr adhesive is applied to...
Take a small foam area n TAPE to a small fiberglass composite...then submerge or dunk...soak...as prescribed for your proposed adventure
Look to what's selling ...see NRS foam padding.
What adhesive is on Padz ? I dunno. But someone knows n I suggest we find him n beat the XXXXX ...until he spills the adhesive.
The same, possibly adhesive on the cowl/windshield gasket...an important part. MUY !
Also unknown here.
There is a possible 3M product n that is untested as I lost the nozzle. DUH.
The choice is: is the install permanent ?
Padz stick but also peel off, yielding if repositioning is necessary.
Similar adhesive may be on bases of windshield traffic cams ie Audiovox..
What is this glue called ?
Carpet tape
I think carpet tape would work for temporary holding while attaching and removing foam for thigh braces and such. Then when you are done fitting the pieces use the contact cement for permanent mounting.