On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:39:24 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


"Alex" wrote:

At the risk of (1) being exposed as a boatbuilding dunce or (2) even
worse, starting a thread as hotly contested as the hypotheteical 40'
vertical sal****er still, the comment about Dow Corning 795 leads me to
ask a (naive) question.

Could this high-strength, high-grab, somewhat flexible adhesive, or one
somewhat similar, be used to build a boat from aluminum panels, somewhat
the way epoxy is used for stitch-and-glue with plywood?

I realize there would have to be a lot of modifications to the
construction process. But is the concept reasonable with today's
adhesives? Certainly DC 795 seems to have no trouble bonding to aluminum.

(Dow says 795 is not for use on surfaces continuously under water, so that
would be a problem for anything except trailered boats or dinghy-type
uses. But again, I'm just raising the question, not proposing it as a real
option. And there may be other adhesives that would be OK for underwater
applications.)


You might want to contact SikaFlex tech service (Metro Detroit) and ask some
of these questions.

Lew


Years ago I read an article about a British engineering student who
built a race car as his "Theses". He wanted the body to fail
progressively and ended up gluing the aluminum body panels together
using an adhesive made by locktite. You might have a look at their
literature.


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)