For millennia, brilliant craftspeople have created strong hulls fastened with sewn seams, trunnels, nails, and screws. In this installment of Getting Started in Boats, we explore a technology that has changed the way boats are built. Industrial chemistry and molecular understanding have, in recent decades, given us epoxy—a simple, reliable, shop-usable glue, filler, and shaper.
Epoxy has offered new ways of designing and building small craft. We are witnessing a flowering of small-craft designs that float into watery niches—whitewater dories, thin-water gunkholers, go-fast cruisers, lazy houseboats, tough workboats, and ambitious fishing vessels. The old forms of joinery are often combined with epoxy, whose strength, when the glue is mixed and applied properly, is steadfast.
In the last installment, we discussed the stitch-and-glue technique. In this second exploration of epoxy, we’re focusing on three additional contemporary techniques. These aren’t the only new methods, and we expect to see more in the future.
The success of epoxy in “amateur” hands introduces boatbuilding to a million garages. We’re confident that all those garages will produce variations, innovations, and new watercraft. The pace of small-craft evolution is in a rush.