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Said I was done after the WYE but a year later I find myself itching for a project. Anybody have experience with FRP panels from Lowes/Home Depot? I'm kind of thinking of another no-wood design. Imagine a Herb 14lb pirogue design but with FRP on the bottom instead of plywood. I would likely do some additional floor reinforcement framing with this material.

Speaking of framing, I saw that Lowes now sells PVC "boards" in up to 12 foot lengths - looks like a perfect framing material. I used PVC lattice for reinforcement on my two foam boats and it worked well so I know this stuff is good. I guess I just need to add up the material weight and see if I would be happy with it. Hoping that I can get by with a very minimal amount of glassing.

My only concern is if/how well regular marine epoxy will work on those FRP panels. I'm also considering doing it with waterproof titebond construction adhesive. Thoughts?

Your Crazy! I wonder if you could use pvc pipe glue? Of course you wouldn't have much time to work with it.

Thinking about the same stuff when I saw it again at Lowe's last week. You would have to
scratch it up a bit for epoxy adhesion. Would be a bunch heavier than thin plywood with epoxy
coating though.

kneekap wrote:Thinking about the same stuff when I saw it again at Lowe's last week. You would have to
scratch it up a bit for epoxy adhesion. Would be a bunch heavier than thin plywood with epoxy
coating though.

Well, 18lbs per sheet for FRP. Quality Okoume marine plywood averages 13lbs in 4mm thickness or 21lbs at 6mm so I'm not losing much. Plus, I'd have to glass/epoxy the wood but I'm thinking this FRP can stand up on it's own. Heck, the fiberglass is already embedded! The Titebond FRP adhesive is waterproof so I don't see where I would even use epoxy on this boat.

Neon has the right idea for the PVC. I see no reason I can't glue the frame up with regular old PVC cement. I have a scrap in the garage and will try to run a test with it this week.

I have not put anything to paper but just figuring in my head I'm seeing the possibility of a $150 build here.

I think PVC cement (which actually creates a "weld") may be a bit stiff or brittle. I'd do a few bending tests. As you well know, boats bend and twist all of the time. Rich

Well, PVC cement did not work. Just didn't melt into the material like with PVC pipes. Now I'm testing some other glues to find what works best.

When I built some coroplast ..plastic sign material...model airplanes..the Two glues that worked well were Super glue & ..peckered..gorilla glue.

The super glue worked best after the material was flashed with a propane torch. The heat removed the surface coating so that the glue would do it's job.

The gorilla glue worked well after a zillion tiny holes were applied with a special tool. Rich

Trick question, right? You're the guy who had the hawk or falcon in the house?

Texa....You might try "flashing" a piece of the FRP material and see if the PVC glue works any better.

The release agent left on the Coroplast panels is what kept most glues from working. The "flashing" ( just quickly passing a propane torch flame over the material) ....actually created a tiny blue flame that went out instantly. It took that release agent off and then various glues worked better. Can't hurt to try. Rich

Woodpecker tool...



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