Waterproof Glue?

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Dan Sponholz
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Waterproof Glue?

Post by Dan Sponholz »

First time regatta builder here. I will be the adult leader for this project and I'm curious as to what kind of glue would be best for the 6-7 year olds to work with? I went to a local hobby store and the owner recommended CA. Will CA hold up in water? If I go with that, I think I'll have the adults do the gluing.

Also, the instructions say to use the pencil to make the slots for the keel and rudder. How does that work. Do you just push the tip of the pencil into the wood and drag it accross to make the groove?
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Da Graphite Kid
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Re: Waterproof Glue?

Post by Da Graphite Kid »

Dan,

CA glue (cyanoacrylate aka: “super glue”, “krazy glue”) is water soluble! Although it will hold up when exposed to water for short periods of time it was not designed to hold up long term. I would guess that it would hold up long enough to get through a raingutter regatta race but I would not use it as it should be the boys who should be doing the gluing - and they don't need to be using CA type glues. We have always used white glue or wood glue and than just made sure that it was covered with a good layer of paint to seal it. My sons and I have even used a two-part epoxy for the keel but we never saw any beefit to this and so switched back to wood glue.

We have always used an exacto knife to cut the boat hull for the rudder and keel. First we would mark the hull with a ruler and pencil and than press the keel into place to mark the location in the hull. Than we would make a few cuts with the exacto knife and a metal ruler. At one time we would just press the keel into place in the hull. We got away with this until about the second year and about sixth boat when we split the hull in two pieces… :oops: We now cut the hull first to remove a small amount of material before carefully pressing and gluing the keel in place.


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Dan Sponholz
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Re: Waterproof Glue?

Post by Dan Sponholz »

Thanks for the reply. So a regular (yellow) wood glue will work fine? I didn't have a lot of confidence in the guy I was talking to at the hobby store. Oh well, I needed some CA to build a line control .049 balsa plane kit for my son anyway.

We are going to be working on the boats tonight at our Den meeting. My plan is for them to shape the hulls with sandpaper and glue in the keel, rudder, mast and sail. They can then take them home to paint and decorate over the next two weeks before the regatta. Will it be fine to paint the boats after they are glued? The instructions say to paint the hull first. Also, what kinds/types of paint work best?
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Da Graphite Kid
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Re: Waterproof Glue?

Post by Da Graphite Kid »

Dan,

We have always glued before painting (just make sure that the glue is dry!). We have had good results using Krylon brand spray paint but I have also heard where others have used automotive or other spray enamel paints. Just make sure that the boys have an open area to paint in so the fumes don't get to them - goggles and latex gloves aren't a bad idea either. We use one of those spray paint can triggers as this makes it a lot easier for the boys to use and control. We also use a long clamp to hold the end of the mast (so that the adult can turn the boat so that the spray goes where needed and not on their hand/arm :lol: ). It also makes a handy way to hold the boat while the paint is drying.

We have gone that 'extra mile' on a few of our own boats and used balsa sanding sealer. If you build balsa plane kits you are probably familiar with this product. You can end up with a very smooth finish but it can also be lots of extra work - maybe too much to attempt at a Den Meeting.

Now, the tough part will be in figuring out if one of the little boats would float that .049 engine and a small gas tank! :shock:


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clemsontigerfanatic
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Re: Waterproof Glue?

Post by clemsontigerfanatic »

We used a cheap holt melt glue gun to make Catermeran's with.
It worked great. Some of the boats were too wide . We pulled them apart and narrowed the width's of the boats.

What I liked best was how fast the glue dries. No problem with worrying with water. Most of the boys had never used one before so it was fun
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