: Nothing to do with kayaks at all.. but in other ways you'd be hard
: pressed to find a better qualified bunch of guys to ask when it
: comes to gluing timber for use in wet places..

: I'm building a deck at my inlaws over the christmas break (it's
: summer here) and want to make a feature curved toe-piece for the
: corner of the deck bordering the lawn. Roughly a 6 foot radius
: through 90 degrees.

: It'll be 6 inch (150mm) H4 treated pine, it'll be in the sun, the
: rain, and almost constantly damp. The only thing it won't have
: to endure is being frozen any more severely than a frost. UV
: will only really affect one edge of each joint which 'should' be
: hairline anyway.

: The piece is non-structural, and will be nailed or screwed to the
: under-deck framing at regular intervals.

: My biggest concern is that the laminations will come unstuck along
: the top edges and gaps will open up. I plan to make it so that
: it springs back to a slightly larger radius than the finished
: dimension so that the inner laminations will be under
: compression once it's attached. Hopefully this will encourage it
: not to tear itself apart at the joints.

: My thoughts at the moment are to use Gorilla Glue because it's very
: strong when properly clamped during set-up, remains slightly
: flexible, and is 100% water resistant so isn't going to
: gradually come unstuck in the damp. I can't think of any benefit
: in using epoxy for this task - especially given that the timber
: is likely to be quite damp when I glue it.

: If anyone has undertaken a project like this I'd be very keen to
: hear how you went about it. I'm still trying to figure out
: whether I should make the lamination directly on the framing, or
: make a form and create the laminated section in my workshop
: before hand.

: Thanks for your thoughts!
: Simeon.

I don't think I have a good understanding of exactly what you want to accomplish, BUT... I would give a lot of thought to designing in water shedding, sloping, angles to the top surfaces, and keeping it off the ground (or if it is touching the ground make sure that it drains well from the base.) A design that allows water to run off the top, AND be shed from the base, ensures that the structure absorbs less water and dries quickly once the rain has stopped.