Glue starvation in my bulkhead... ideas?

[dmede]

I epoxied up the two bulkheads for my Fiddlehead canoe last week. The bulkheads are constructed from 4 pieces of 1/4" WRC. They are laid 2 pieces side by side over the other 2 pieces with grain running perpendicular to each other. The result being a 1/2" thick board to get the bulkhead out of.

The first BH didn’t get enough clamping pressure across it’s entire surface so there is an area about 2" to 3" wide that is sealed with epoxy but not glued together that stretches across the center of the BH. My first inclination is to remake the BH (after fixing my clamping station the 2nd BH came out perfect). But I am out of WRC and it’s a long drive to get some more around here. I do need more for the planks but I am not ready (read: I am too poor) to get it now. So my other ideas is to see if I can salvage the BH.

I drilled a few small holes into the edge of the BH where the epoxy was not holding together. I intend to inject epoxy with a syringe and with lots of pressure this will hopefully fill at least some of the void. I also intend to seal the edges of the BH with epoxy to be sure no water will travel down any remaining hairline separation. I am not worried about structural failure, I think the boards glued together enough not too fail. I am more worried about water being trapped in the void and rotting the WRC out in short order. Does this sound like a good solution or am I just being lazy?

Thanks,
Dave

[Bruce Hooke]

That sounds like a reasonable solution to me. You will want to keep an eye on those bulkheads anyway because two layers of 1/4" thick wood at 90 degrees to each other may shrink and expand enough to break any glue joint. Is that what the plans called for?

[dmede]

Thier not exactly 90*, more like 60-70 I'd guess. It is as described in the plans. They don't directly contact water like the planks so maybe they don't take up that much. Ive also read that soft wood like WRC is very stable in shrinkege and swelling cycles.

[Greg Stoll]

I don't know about anyone else, but every time I've tried to inject epoxy it hasn't worked well, even through a 14 guage IV catheter. Too thick. I put too much pressure on it and it leaks out around the plunger. Or maybe my Fire Department just buys cheap syringes...

Greg

[shadow99]

I saw a guy use a small grease gun to pressure inject epoxy into a delaminated plywood transom. He used one of those cheapy guns with the 6" steel tube extension. He drill several hole near the bottom of the transom, and then a series of 3/16" holes 1" apart near the top. He jammed the grease gun's tube into the lower hole & pumped in the epoxy until it oozed out the breather holes, then moved quickly to the next lower hole & repeated. Once he filled the cavity, he tossed the gun into the trash, and started clamping it up with some of the deepest C-clamps I've ever seen. A couple of days later they removed the clamps, trimmed off the excess goo, faired the transom, slapped some paint on her, & dropped her back in the water. That was 4 years ago, I still see her every now & then in the Gronton/Long Point, CT area. She is a '68 Chris-Craft, 36 ft.

Rick

[Tom Lathrop]

The usual method of injecting epoxy into voids in laminations is to first define the void by tapping with a hammer and marking the outline. Then drill several small holes over the area. Inject into the lowest hole and plug each hole as epoxy flows out. Works on cored F***S hulls as well.