The strength of the kayak does not really depend on the glue. If you could get the strips to stay in place without glue until you got the glass on, it would work fine. I want something that is easy to use.

Waterproof is not required. The epoxy keeps the water out and even if the fiberglass is ruptured the boat will not fall apart for a long time.

You don't need super strong because most glue is stonger than the wood itself. If you try to break a glue joint, the wood will almost always break before the joint.

What I want is: Easy to use, Safe to use, Looks good, Cleans up easily, and if possible Cheap.

Hot melt: You have to work fast, Burn your fingers on still-hot glue, looks OK but can look milky white, Impossible to sand, Cheap.

Urethane glues (Gorilla etc.): Pretty easy to apply, Toxic and hard to wash off your hands, Looks good, Sands well but expands and drips requiring additional cleaning and does not clean up with water, Expensive.

White glue (Elmers): Easy, Safe, Invisable to a little bit white, Cleans with water but hard to sand, Cheap.

Yellow Carpenters glue (Titebond (not Titebond II)): Easy, Safe, Invisable to whitish, Sands OK and cleans with water, Cheap.

Titebond II: Easy, Safe, Leaves yellow stains, Sands OK and cleans with water until cured, not too expensive.

Epoxy: Hard to use because you have to mix it and it has a limited potlife, Toxic and difficult to safely clean skin, Invisable, Hard to sand, Expensive.

In my opinion epoxy is out because it is to much trouble and provides no practical advantage. Titebond II is no better than regulare Carpenters Glue, is more expensive and can stain so I scratch it off the list. White Elmer's glue has successfully built a lot of strippers, but it doesn't sand very well and doesn't have much price advantage over yellow glue. Hot melt is just too much trouble and I'm not sure it will be cheap for a whole boat. That leaves Urethane glues -vs- Yellow glues. I don't see the advantage to the Urethane glues. The filling action of the foaming is not required, the epoxy will fill gaps when you apply the glass. The foaming makes the glue ooze out from between each strip and that has to be cleaned up. I can apply a bead of yellow glue that does not ooze out at all and almost no cleaning is required. Yellow glue drips that do appear are quickly removed with a scraper when they cure or with a wet rag while wet. Water just makes the Urethane glues foam more, you need alcohol to clean up and the stuff doesn't come off your hands.

The advantage cited for Urethane glue is when the sun softens up the yellow glue you can get stress marks in the glass along seams. I am not convinced that these stress marks are caused by the glue softening and it is quite possible the Urethane glues will have the same problem.

I'm sticking with the yellow glue, it is easy to deal with. It works.

> I'm planning for my first stripbuilt kayak and have heard of
> people using hot glue, wood glue or epoxy to bond the strips together.
> Is there "right" or best way to do it? Hot glue seems like
> it would be quickest and easiest but is this as strong as wood glue?
> Epoxy seems like the strongest but slow and messy. Does hot glue run
> the risk of softning if the finished kayak is left out in direct sunlight?
>