About the Adhesive

In the original plans that dated back to the late 60's the marine adhesive of choice was a resorcinol waterproof glue which I used to build my original kayak. It consisted of an organic liquid and a urea-formaldehyde powder hardener that had to be mixed together and was quite toxic and cumbersome to apply. In the following picture it is the very dark brown glue.

Since we will need to build this craft quite quickly I have opted for Lepage^® PL^® Premium Construction Adhesive which is quite durable and much more easily applied with a tube. Also it is effective for any material so I can also use this for the wood as well as the canvas. Being of a polyurethane base - like Gorilla^® Glue it will be very durable. The only possible risk from my experience with other polyurethane products is breakdown due to sunlight. Construction adhesive is shown in the following picture where I rather clumsily glued in the floor boards permanently onto the frames. (the movement of the loose floorboards was always very frustrating when tipping over the canoe for portaging hence I fastened them permanently). That repair was done at least a decade ago and this glue is still as solid as can be and still very well adhered.

FEATURES of the LEPAGE GLUE.

• Waterproof&Weatherproof: Ideal for interior or exterior projects • Cold weather gunnable: Can be extruded in sub-zero temperatures • Increases efficiency: Reduces nailing/fastener requirements • Gap Filling: Can be used on irregular surfaces.