Gents,

I have successfully used a specialized epoxy wood treatment (Norseal) made by a local company called Norglass. When mixed it has very low viscosity and good penetration.
Good luck with your builds.
Steve

Duncan

Also note that there are three types of Titebond, original, II, and III.
- Original is for interior work only.
- II is water resistant.
- III is supposed to be water proof, but that is apparently not totally true.

So, which one works? II and III should be OK for some "light" (submerged for a short time) water contact. So for me, I would opt for something totally waterproof (like I recommended spar varnish).

Experience with wood and a leak: My scratch built towboat has 3/4 inch sides and a 1/4 inch bottom. The bottom is in multiple pieces to follow the curves. I had a tiny (invisible) leak that caused the wood to swell and crack wide enough to run a pencil through it☹️. (I was able to fix this.)

Bottom line: Seal wood with something that is totally waterproof!

Lew
Florida 😎☀️, USA

That's a great idea and would save a lot of heartache when building models.
Trial and error over the years has been the hard way we modellers have learnt many things.
The changing chemical make up of paints and glues makes life harder, but as modellers all over the world will know, WE WILL find a way forward.
Cheers Colin.

I use various methods for sealing the hull, both inside and outside. Mostly what I have available at the time.

(I use Titebond II for gluing wood and watered down for stiffening rope. Never tried it as a sealer. I would be concerned as when I paint over what was glued the finish look different.)

Most of the time I seal the inside of the wood hulls with spar varnish. It holds up really well.

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA
Most of the time

Hi Colin. Thank you for your information. I just thought because I had some cellouse sanding sealer it would save me buying some Ezekote that you recommended! Life isn't straight forward these days when working with paints and glues! We could do with an expert in this field making some sort of 'OK to use together chart'.
A chart with one product on one axis and another product on the other axis and where the two intersect will say 'yes' or 'no' to use together. I'm sure a lot of modellers would find this really helpful. Just a thought - especially if someone out there has this expertise!
Cheers Duncan

Good evening Duncan, I use epoxy glue if I've used cellulose sanding sealer as water based glues won't adhere properly.
Cheers Colin.

Hi Lew. Did you use the water based or cellouse type of sanding sealer. I didn't realise they could be used to waterproof the wood. Do you know if Aliphatic glue adheres to the sanding sealer Ok? The problem is that once planking is underway some parts will not be accessible. I have both types of sanding sealer from previous jobs and I presume they don't need thinning prior to use. Cheers Duncan

Hi Duncan,

Aliphatic or vinyl glue is widely used by model makers.

In Italy we call it Vinavil because we have the habit of calling a generic product with the name of the best-known brand.
Automatically the brand becomes the stereotype of the generic product.
So to indicate transparent tape we say Scotch, to indicate cyanoacrylate glue we say Attack etc. etc.

I bought many packs of vinyl glue but I didn't use much of it, in fact it's all dry.
Model makers love it, I have found few applications for it; only the quick-setting one was really useful to me.
Maybe it's just my prejudice but I don't think much of it.
In reality it has a good grip on wood, it's not toxic and it's not dangerous, I should re-evaluate it.
As for the water and vinyl glue solution, I have heard many uses of it.

If I understand correctly you would like to use it to waterproof the inside of the hull.
It doesn't excite me if I'm honest.
I abandoned this method in favor of resins, because in addition to providing an excellent degree of waterproofing, they create a hard but light shell at the same time.

Thanks to your post I learned about new products and the opinion of modelers on their use and performance, such as the product suggested by ColinH or those from Jumpugly which I didn't know at all but which I will consider in the future.

So thank you.

You may want to try sanding sealer. Easy to use and works great. Good base coat for anything you want to use on it.

I really like a thin coat oz Z-Poxy finishing resin. A good exterior grade Minwax Helmsman spar varnish is also a nice option. 😉

Hi Duncan,

Ezecote is thinned using water, and is very effective as a sealer. For inside the boat, I would use about a 50/50 mix of water and Ezecote.

Thanks Colin. What do you thin the Ezecote with please? Cheers Duncan

It is like the old fashioned white glue you used in school but waterproof when dry. It sands ok too. Btw that white glue in its clear glue format I use for small windows on plastic models. Use a drop for portholes etc.

Good afternoon Duncan, I did once try this method of sealing the wooden interior parts, but found construction joints a problem as glue didn't bond very well, I now build first and seal afterwards using Ezekote thinned 50/50.
Then if needed I can paint or Varnish.
Cheers Colin.

Sorry Duncan I have no idea regards Chris