Tube separation / Glueing to GRP

[Mike B]

Hi all,

After searching the forums I can't find a clear answer to this one so hoping someone can help.

I noticed on stuffing a couple of waves yesterday that a small amount of water was making it between the tubes and hull on the starboard bow.

Once out of the water it was claer that the tubes had started to separate. (see photo)

All the joining strip is intact and it looks like the glue has started to fail which is not too supprising considering the age of the boat.

I'm quite happy to do a repair but just want to confirm the correct glue to use between the joining strip and GRP hull. I have plenty of Bostic PVC glue (can't remember the number) and tolulene thinners but I'm not sure this would be suitable to bond to the GRP. Also do I need to prep the GRP in any way.

Thanks for any help / advice.

Mike

[ribraff]

First thing you'll need to do is dry out the gap between the joining strips and the hull, it's probably best to put a heater underneath it and leave it for a while if you can, the last thing you want is any water trapped in there when you're glueing. Check that the fibre glass you're glueing on to is well keyed up, it probably is'nt which is why the strip came off, use a 60 or 80 grit sand paper and be as thorough as you possibly can. The PVC glue you have will be fine, i would recommend putting a thin film of glue over both surfaces and leaving it for 24 hrs. This will give you very good adhesion.
Of course you will need to make sure you remove all of the old glue first. I hope that this helps.

[Mike B]

17 minutes - now that is service!!

Many thanks Ribraff.

Strip is already peeled back to help drying out and I will get a blower on to it later in the week before glueing hopefully this weekend.

Cheers

Mike