Best wood-to-wood adhesive

[kwaltersmi]

I'm planning to make new companionway door slats next week out of a couple of pieces of marine plywood I have left over from another project. In order to replicate the thickness of the current companionway slats on my sailboat I'm going to need to use adhere the two pieces of marine plywood together. What's the best adhesive for this?

[JimsCAL]

My choices would be Titebond III waterproof wood glue or perhaps Gorilla Glue. Either should work well.

[sailingdog]

Epoxy would work pretty well too.

[Freesail99]

I would also cut some strips of wood, that would look like a planned design but could also be the area where you add brass or stainless screws to aid in holding everything together.

[deniseO30]

Walter the difficult part of laminating plywood onto plywood is getting it all pressed together without voids. You may want to do allot of prep work before you glue it. We used boards across the short width and planed a slight crown on the edges. then we clamped them edge to edge with the plywood in between . The wider it is the more difficult it is.
good luck

[sailingdog]

Using Gorilla Glue, which expands as it cures, or thickened epoxy would help prevent voids.

Originally Posted by deniseO30

Walter the difficult part of laminating plywood onto plywood is getting it all pressed together without voids. You may want to do allot of prep work before you glue it. We used boards across the short width and planed a slight crown on the edges. then we clamped them edge to edge with the plywood in between . The wider it is the more difficult it is.
good luck

[AjariBonten]

I absolutely love West System epoxy for this type of project. Gorilla glue is very good too, but I have had better luck using GG on solid wood projects.

Slightly thickened West is fantastic, and fills any voids.

[bobmcgov]

I vote epoxy, though with that much surface nearly any glue from TB2 to mastic to earwax would serve. Denise is right -- clamping is the tough part. Cauls help, or a press of some sort. Absolute best method is vacuum-bagging, which can be faked pretty well with some visquene, a ShopVac, and a compressor-driven venturi pump. The glue squeezeout won't stick to the plastic.

If using cauls, wax em or cover them with wax paper, saran, or duct tape. Or you may find your new hatch has a few unintended battens attached!

[waltpm]

I have laminated three pieces of 1/4 in plywood into a 3/4 in piece using epoxy and it has lasted about 5 years so far and still looks perfect. If the pieces are to big to clamp, (mine were)then make sure that the pieces are flat and weight them on a flat surface. BTW, a recent issue of Fine Woodworking evaluated glues, and Gorilla Glue came out dead last in almost every category including strength.

[Sailormann]

I have found that Gorilla Glue REALLY expands quite a bit. It's certainly strong but I would think that it's going to be difficult to get an even bond between the two pieces. I would go with epoxy or resorcinol.