Custom/Hybrid What to use: Bonding top deck to bottom?

Cannibal

Cannibal

Tasty Human
Location
Summit Lake, WA
Looking for an economical glue for bonding the top deck to the bottom deck.

The most economical for me, would be thickened epoxy. I have West 403 Microfibers and Cabosil that would fit the bill, but is this a bad idea? I can't say I've seen anyone use this to bond their decks. I also have on hand fairing additive, micro-balloons and 1/4" chopped fibers.

I know I've seen the recommendation of Plexus and West G/Flex, but with how much I'd need, seems like I could easily spend $60+ on tubes of this...IDK, how much is needed to fully coat the bond surfaces?

Thanks!
 
sicksxr07

sicksxr07

Location
Northwest, CT
we glued a freak together with west systems ,cabosil (peanut butter consistency ) and 6oz s glass chopped up in it........ from the man himself. i also glued my hood liner back in my q8 with that mix . has worked great
 
R

ridetrp

Location
nj
sicksxr07 said:
we glued a freak together with west systems ,cabosil (peanut butter consistency ) and 6oz s glass chopped up in it........ from the man himself. i also glued my hood liner back in my q8 with that mix . has worked great
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This is a great mix there are so many different things you can do, plexus is shyt but pricey. What'd you guys use to apply it to the flange a putty knife or load it in a syringe ?
 
SuperJETT

SuperJETT

So long and thanks for all the fish
Location
none
I did mine with thickened epoxy, worked great. Flip the top deck upside-down, put the thickened resin in the corner of the bondrail and when you set the bottom in, it will ooze out both inward and out the bondrail.
 
Waternut

Waternut

Customizing addict
Location
Macon, GA
IMO Plexus is used in jetski manufacturing because it's easy to use and hard to screw up...not because it's the best. If anyone has ever worked with manufacturing or helped stream line it, you'll know that schedule and ease of construction is typically more important than price. If it takes 2 guys 2 hours to bond a ski together using $10 worth of fibers and resin, you're paying more than if you paid 2 guys for 30 minutes using a material that costs $100. The workers may only make $15/hr but the company probably pays closer to $40-$60/hr to break even.

If the a hull was one piece with no seams, it would be the stronger than a bonded hull with the same shape. Since a one piece hull would be very difficult, the next best thing is to bond the hull together using the same materials the hull is made with. When I built my hull, I used strips of carbon and epoxy on the inside and outside to bond the two halves together. Very cheap and very strong.
 
snowxr

snowxr

V watch your daughters V
Location
Waterford, MI
I used Plexus to bond my carbon hull together 13yrs ago. It's still together, but the glue started peeling and leaking years ago. Some inserts also came loose. Lesson learned, now I use thickened epoxy.
 
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Freakrider

Freakrider

X247
Location
Tampa Bay area
Crazy thought: I wonder how long a hull would stay together with 5200...it's some strong flexible/shock absorbing shiat...I am of course just thinking crazy out loud here.
 
Fro Diesel

Fro Diesel

creative control
Location
Kzoo
Jump On It said:
Crazy thought: I wonder how long a hull would stay together with 5200...it's some strong flexible/shock absorbing shiat...I am of course just thinking crazy out loud here.
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Not too long if there is ethanol in the gas.

sent from Fro Diesel using tapatalk.
 
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