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I'm thinking about laminating up some cabin wall panels for a deck barge by using rigid foam insulation board sandwiched between sheets of Ultraply. I'm wondering if the two products (epoxy/foam board) are compatible? I'd hate the foam to melt under the epoxy. Has anyone used epoxy with foam board products?

Also, for gluing large flat sheets that will be clamped, should I use epoxy with a filler, or plain resin?

Thanks for any info,

_________________
Whenever you Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who
approaches that jewel. Unfortunately,nothing will preserve it but downright force.
Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." (Patrick Henry)

If you are talking about the house type foam board, yes epoxy will work with it. The problem is that epoxy really does not bond to the stuff. You need to create a wooden grid and install the foam inside. I use a good flexible caulking along the border and at random across the faces. You don't need to completely cover the foam board with any glue material. But I like to seal the skin plywood with a coat of resin for sure. But you don't need to go to the extreme with completely making the inside face smoothe. Just a couple three coats on most wood is fine.

Make sure you remove the thin plastic sheeting on the sheet faces if applicable in some of the brands. The silver stuff works well too. But the homebuilding stuff does not have a good compression resistance. So a thin skin of plywood is essential for long term success with the product. Insulating the cabin is a must and you will be happy long term too.

I'm working on a barge style houseboat myself. I plan on doing the same thing your talking about. I work in the construction supply business and here is what I'm doing. I'm laminating 1/4" luan to 1" Dow blue board. The adhesive will be Great Stuff foam adhesive by Dow. These two products are made for each other. My outside walls will be covered with Filon FRP made by Crane Composites. This product comes in 80" width cut to length. It's what you see on the outside of RV's. For the inside I will choose a high quality exterior paint.

Dan

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Anywhere But Down
http://dansboathouse.blogspot.com/

Btowndan, How thick are the FRP panels you mentioned? I looked at some at the big box store and they were listed as .090 inches. Thanks for the input. And good luck with your house boat project.

_________________
Whenever you Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who
approaches that jewel. Unfortunately,nothing will preserve it but downright force.
Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." (Patrick Henry)

Dave,

My panels will be .045 white exterior smooth gel coated panel. The FRP panels you see at the big box are not UV protected. Here is a link to one RV FRP supplier: www.rvsurplus.net
I'm in Indiana and most of the RV manufactures are located here. So when it comes time to trim out I have easy access. I'm also getting my round corner windows from one of the outlet stores in Elkhart.

Hope this helps,

_________________
Anywhere But Down
http://dansboathouse.blogspot.com/