The silicon sealant is a good idea! I will hang on to that one for future use. it would be difficult to achieve on this boat, without fully removing the main deck and being as that runs the full length of the boat, Im a little reluctant to attempt to lift the complete deck off as yet. Ive reglued from above for now and seems to holding better than it was and no nasty cracking noises as I pick the hull up now.

HI gregoryk9
Ah! missed the point. I have a Billings Coast Guard boat which I glued with Evostick - deck to hull that is. The joint is then protected by a rubber extrusion all round. So far so good but its only a few years old. Could you Improve the load spreading with silicon bath sealant all round the inside joint once you have araldited. Plastic is great but oh so brittle especially on a cold day. Good luck
Dave

HI Dave.

my boat isn't wood, thats the problem. its got a plastic hull, deck and superstructure. the insides of all the items show the dramatic "white discolouration" of the superglue and its lumpy remains, but its simply gone brittle, so even picking the boat up "wrong" you could hear the joins "crack"!

yes, Ive managed to varnish all the bare wood in the boat, even down the the deck planking around the fire monitors [yes did remove the circular deck rings and coat the undersides!]. Not only that, but the visible woodwork looks really well being varnished.
no doubts a fireboat should be coated in as much bullsh** as an ordinary fire engine ! ha ha.

HI gregoryk9
Very common problem with wooden boats. Not confined to cyano glues but to most types of glue where wood to wood joints are made and subsequently exposed to the elements. My Billing Mercantic was a plank on frame built with cascamite over 30 years ago. The problem lies in the wood. This being a natural product absorbs water and subsequently in a hot environment (the attic say) loses water. This causes expansion and contraction and over time the wood will split adjacent to the glue join.
A solution is to cover the whole hull in tissue and fiberglass resin. Once set you can smooth the finish with wet & dry sand paper and paint. if you want to show the wood on the outside of the hull you need to run just the resin round the insides of the hull. You can cut and use tissue if you wish, this will give a stronger finish. Many advocate using resin inside and out but this will add to the weight and is not always possible. Araldite will certainly do the job but the hull will leak at some time if you do not completely seal the wood. Good luck with the rebuild
Dave

I have come across a problem on my boat which Iw as very surprised to see. I bought a boat secondhand, so is a few years old since original build, but the original builder did use copious amounts of "superglue" to make it a quicker build.

Now, after a few year of dipping in and out of the water, the superglue has become very brittle and seperates its bond with all panels/joins with little force.

So, Ive have little choice but to virtually strip the boat back down and rebuild, but using an epoxy adhesive [araldite - in fact]. yes a longer job, but if its worth doing!

Id suggest keeping superglue/instant glue for minor jobs or to just act as an initial "bond" to be followed with a stronger glue, over the top once the items have stuck.

HI everyone, makes a change for me to ask but I know a lot more of you out there may know more than me!, a couple of year ago I was given some drawings for a UK 52ft long x 13ft beam Estuarial Fireboat,circa mid 1940's,I think this may be an interesting project? I typed in fireboats in the UK on the search engine and an appropriate site came up, on page 2 bottom item is a link to Esturial
Fireboats, the top picture is virtually identical with the exception of the main bridge, this I feel may be a later addition, if anyone knows where I may be able to glean some more info from I would be pleased to know, colours are the main question, I think they may be black hull and red upper surfaces.
Looking forward to seeing some of you all at our Fireboat day this coming sunday.
Pete D.