putty from wood glue

[davebrown]

have anyone of you guys who know more than me (you know who you are) used a putty of wood flour and say, titebond III, which purports to be waterproof?

i need a fairing putty for the inside stem of a payson's gypsy that i am either going to let go of or repair, depending on cost. i don't want to buy more epox until my next build. so i am being chintzy, which is a pretty good reason to experiment. this putty is NOT structural, in the sense the stem is already glued and screwed in place. it is cosmetic, but i don't want leaks.

possible reasons not to do it: a. as costanza said, shrinkage. if it dries, shrinks, and then cracks, it will look bad and leak. b. might not paint well. c. the bond might be poor and leak at that level.

[davebrown]

i should add, there are several other problems with ressurecting the boat beyond just this putty issue. so i don't know if i am going to do it.

[davebrown]

i htought titebondIII might be a candidate because of their claim of waterproof. i think the other titebonds say, water resistant--but not for below the water line...

[johngsandusky]

I once watched a lifelong professional builder mix sawdust and construction adhesive (liquid nails or pl premium) and put it into the seams of an old boat.

[Thorne]

PL Premium, while one of my favorite sealant/adhesives, doesn't sand worth a damn even when dry -- so you'd probably have to mix a lot of sawdust into it to be able to roughly shape it. Don't think it would work well for fairing.

Bondo (Horrors!) makes a marine compound. While bad for structural use ( and the auto compound being actively hydrophilic), this might work well to just fill in gaps, dips, dings and holes -- the usual way fairing compound would be used on a small wooden boats. I've never used it -- for what little fairing work I do, I use the high-end Smiths 2-part epoxy fairing compound -- great stuff!
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/bondo/bon-762.jpg

[davebrown]

i've read bondo marine leaks.

[Thorne]

Well, you don't put fairing compound over holes in the hull, so no problem.

If you are patching holes, you'll want something other than fairing compound -- either patch it with PL Premium and fair it with something else, or go with epoxy.

[davebrown]

agreed. i will give it a try andpost a photo after week or two in the sun. we'll see if it shrinks and cracks.

[Jay Greer]

Hot tip. We used window putty mixed with a bit of Litharge for bottom seams in a yard I worked for. We applied it using a home made caulking gun made to a long piece of copper water pipe cut off at an angle, on one end, with a piston made of a wooden dowel. The gun was filled by pressing down one end into a pile of putty on the bench top. It was a cinch to hold the angled end against the seam and force it full with pressure on the dowel. This was done while walking backwards along the hull. Very little knife work was needed.
Jay

[PeterSibley]

Linseed oil and whiting putty was the norm in Australian boatyards ,you can get quite good with a knife with practice .