Composite adhesive bonding for boats

Structural composite adhesive solution makes a splash!

Recently we were wondering which of our customers we could highlight to showcase our diverse breadth of adhesive solutions, for a really ‘off the wall’ application. We instantly thought of Simon Mcloughlin.

Simon is the Managing Director of C-Fury, a UK company who design and build small patrol and adventure boats.  These boats are perfect for exploring coastlines, water skiing adventures, or even as the ‘ship to shore’ vessel to get you from your cruiser at sea to dinner on the coast – you’ll know them as soon as you see them! These are his words…

What drew you to CTA?

“Initially I did a Google search looking for structural composite adhesives and CTA popped up! The fact that they are a UK based company was attractive, and, once I’d spoken to them, I realised we would receive the critical personal and technical support that’s essential to our business. For example, when we had a simple but crucial question and needed a very rapid answer, the response was perfect.”

What was the adhesive intended for?

“We needed to source an adhesive that would fill a large (9.5m long) joint to attach the hull and deck moulded components of our vessels together.  Owing to the size of the surface area, we had huge safety factors to address, and had to couple this with the need for an adhesive that was easy to apply and had good operation with an inconsistent joint gap. We chose CTA 2120 adhesive and it has proved to be the ideal solution.”

Composite marine adhesive

A C-Fury boat under construction.

What are important considerations for the CTA adhesive?

“The necessity for trusted efficiency, strength, and ease of application cannot be overstressed in our business.  Whether we are providing our vessels for pleasure, adventure, sport or lifestyle, safety is absolutely paramount – we guarantee it to our clients so that they can enjoy our patrol boats or yachts, ergo we need to know that our chosen adhesive delivers on our promise.  CTA’s 2120 two-part structural adhesive is a winner for us!”

How did our adhesive fare?

“I must say that based on price, performance, availability and shelf life, CTA’s 2120 two-part adhesive is better than premium products we have used in the past. It’s very straight forward to apply.  We have a pneumatic dispenser system which can apply 3 tubes in about 20 minutes.  The 2120 then gives us enough working time and a sufficient rapid cure time to be an ideal solution for us.

Occasionally we have required even more detailed technical assistance, and Mark has always been available to visit on site. With Mark we also conducted some ‘stress tests’ of CTA’s products to ensure compatibility.  You can see on the video below that, during the test, the surface of the composite pulled off the fibres underneath which caused failure – not the adhesive!”.

 

 

A final quote from Simon:

“If you need excellent speed of information, technical advice, reliable performance and great price, in my experience you will not be able to beat Mark Plimmer at CTA.”

 

If you have a unique need for an adhesive or tape or are interested in our marine adhesive solutions, then contact us today for help and support using our experience and large product range.

Products referenced in this article: CTA 2120 two part structural adhesive