Getting ready to do some transom work and curious if 3M Nidabond is "corebond" which is commonly recommended here? There is a North American Composites here in Arizona (chandler), so maybe if they have it, I will just get my Vinylester and cloth there as well. Never used them. Any info is much appreciated!

What glass schedule are you planning? Im no expert but I would recommend epoxy for the transom if its in the budget its alot better the ve or pe for a water barrier

yes i am interested in the specifics of this corebond as well? i was under the impression that ARJAY corebond is what everyone is using.

honestly its probably best to just call up the companys and ask what the best prodcut is for the application

Hey Borgie,

I know that you want to use the Nidabond for filling voids or uneven surfaces but couldn't you also just "flatten" the inner skin of the transom with a layer of glass itself? I mean it's already fiberglass so why not just adhere a layer where needed? I'm almost where you are in the same process so just thinking ahead here.

I had considered that, however I'm waiting to hear back from glassdave. Figure there's a reason he uses the bonding agent vs traditional methods when a transom isn't flat. I appreciate the ideas either way as I don't want to over engineer this thing.

It is basically impossible to get a old fiberglass surface perfectly flat even with a new layer of glass. That is why you use Nida-Bond or a similar product to make sure you fill all the imperfections and voids for the best possible strength. I used it to bond the new core in my bilge and the small bulkhead behind my gas tank.

I hear ya. So would the application be to trowel on thick then clean up the mess after compressing the layers together?

Are you talking about compressing layers of ply together for the transom? or bonding your new ply to the transom? I know some people use CSM between layers of ply but I think resin or slightly thickened resin will work.

I put thickened resin down to bond my balsa core and bulkhead to the old glass for a good bond and then cleaned up the extra that came up around the edges after compression. I think that is what you want to do when you put your new transom in.

I hope Glassdave chimes in on this I would like to hear his opinion also, its been about 13 years since I worked in a glass shop and have been doing my boat with what I remember and new stuff I read here.

Sorry about that, I should have been more clear. I meant to bond the new transom to the existing inner skin of the back of the boat. If this is used to fill voids/deep spots I would assume to trowel on the inner skin the same as you would when laying tile then press the new laminated transom wood against the nidabond and let cure.

I will see this weekend after grinding just how uneven i leave the inner skin to see if it warrants doubling up on nidabond along with resin, doubling up when ordering supplies that is. If not too bad I'll just thicken up some resin and use it in the same manner unless advised otherwise. Like Borgie said, I'm not trying to over think this but want to do it right. If it lasted this long off the assembly line almost no matter how we do it it should last the same if not longer.

we talk about this in my thread a little -- http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...transom-2.html

but the question here is what is the best corebond product out there for the purpose of bonding in a wood transom?

glass dave you need to finish your book lol so we can all stop asking you questions over and over