Best glue for battery trays?

[bob_t]

One of the battery trays came loose on my MG29 after only a couple of runs (no wrecks of flips). Looks like it was only glued in a few local spots from the factory. What is the best glue to use to re-install the wooden tray; epoxy, or something else?
Thanks in advance, Bob.

[wade7575]

I would use epoxy but make sure to use 15 to 30 minute epoxy,the longer the drying time the stronger it will be but most importantly the more water resistant it will be.

To make it simple to understand the faster the epoxy dries the more it can be affected by water,15 minute should be just fine as it won't be getting wet all the time but if you could get 30 minute get that and it will really stand up to water.

[bob_t]

Thanks, .... So just get some standard hardware store (slower set time) epoxy and re-seat the tray?

[wade7575]

That's right and if they have 24 hour stuff you can use that as well,I preffer 15 or 30 minute stuff myself as it dry's faster and does not hold up your project.

If you have a Hobby Shop near by the BSI (Bob Smith Industries)Epoxy or the Zpoxy brand has alway's worked good for me you get more for about the same price as a high quality brand in the dual Tube plus the stuff in the Dual tube can be a real pain to make the end peace go back on.
If you get the Hobby Stuff as well it will last longer because of the better fitting ends and you'll find this stuff handy for everything around the house and future repair's on your boat,just keep it in a cool dry place to get max shelf life if you want to have some extra kicking around.The olny brand I really don't like is the LaPages stuff you either get a good batch or a bad batch and I have gotten more bad ones then good ones.

Thanks, .... So just get some standard hardware store (slower set time) epoxy and re-seat the tray?

[dana]

Most important is to rough up the area well with 80 grit paper. You can use several glues that will be successful if your prep is done well. On the other hand, if your prep sux, the best glue in the world won't do the job

[RIPFENCE]

if you want a pretty much permanent fixture then get the system three t-88...i use it when mounting motor strigers battery trays, and other stuff...it ridiculously strong...however its a bitch to remove even with heating it..its great stuff though..water will not effect it at all unlike regular epoxies

[bob_t]

Thanks for all of the help. I went to system three website, found a local store (woodcraft) and now have an 8 oz kit of t-88 . Will lightly rough up the mating surfaces and probably try to use a syringe with a larger opening, or a narrow craft paint brush to get it where it needs to go.
Thanks again,
Bob

[thomaslambo]

Most important is to rough up the area well with 80 grit paper. You can use several glues that will be successful if your prep is done well. On the other hand, if your prep sux, the best glue in the world won't do the job

Yup, broken many battery trays and engine mounts prior to preparing the surface correctly and applying good epoxy/glue.

Personally, I like the slower drying z-poxy resin (P-40) along with a generous application of fiberglass......it seems to break/crack less often under high speed crashes

[properchopper]

Yup, broken many battery trays and engine mounts prior to preparing the surface correctly and applying good epoxy/glue.

Personally, I like the slower drying z-poxy resin (P-40) along with a generous application of fiberglass......it seems to break/crack less often under high speed crashes

Hey Boyd, What would you know about high speed crashes ? Oh wait - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Rsqt7Vo-s

My personal, ABSOLUTE, NO OTHER epoxy for keeping things from returning to kit form, or having batterys break loose and sink to the bottom with your pricey speed control still attached (ask Mark F.) is : http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...classNum=50220

[wade7575]

I agree go with Epoxy,if you go with glues that dry really hard when you crash you may find that they can be very brittle.

Epoxy grip's to a propperly prepaired sureface like a bulldog but at the sametime it stay's just a tiny bit flexable but not alot and that's what you want is it to be just a tiny bit flexable.

Look at RC Planes and a guy clip's a Wing tip and the impact is not enough to break the wood but it will cause the really brittle CA Glue to pop apart and that's not what you want with your hull,also keep in mind if you do flip your boat hard and you use a brittle glue what happen's when the battery tray breaks loose and your lipo slam's into a hard object like your motor,I don't think you want a damaged lipo or it to get punctured then you have a lipo fire to worry about.

[Make-a-Wake]

Yeah, the Geico/Mystic battery trays are horrible, barely held in with dabs of that cheap, cloudy looking glue. I use 5 minute epoxy just cuz im impatient and dont want to have to weight it down all night..................i may be doing something else to the boat and dont want to wait.

[thomaslambo]

Hey Boyd, What would you know about high speed crashes ? Oh wait - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Rsqt7Vo-s

My personal, ABSOLUTE, NO OTHER epoxy for keeping things from returning to kit form, or having batterys break loose and sink to the bottom with your pricey speed control still attached (ask Mark F.) is : http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...classNum=50220

Tony,

How fitting that you show that particular crash.....the HPR 135 is my immaculate obsession now. So be sure and bring your camera for the up coming SAW event. And just for the record, that crash was due to a simple mistake as a result of being in a hurry. I had lost a drive on the previous pass and accidentally replaced the wrong one (left hand instead of right hand drive), so once the drives wound up you can see the result (it unwound and flipped the boat). Some times the simple mistakes will kill you......but stay tuned for part two

By the way, one of the battery trays did brake loose in that crash, but no major damage due to the foam rubber packing above and around the bats.

See you at Legg Lake my friend....and I'll have donuts waiting for our usual crack of dawn arrival

[sundog]

My personal, ABSOLUTE, NO OTHER epoxy for keeping things from returning to kit form

You kill me...

[bob_t]

Thanks for all the input! I lightly roughed up the hull side where the tray mates and the top of the tunnel, where the other surface mates and roughed up the edges of the wood tray. I then took a craft paint brush and brushed in a "layer" of the t-88 on the hull side and the top of the tunnel. Then I seated the wood tray into that layer and put generous fillets of the t-88 along the length of the wood tray where it mates to both the tunnel and the hull side. I guess now it is "wait and see", until the epoxy cures. It flowed just enough so it looks even better than the factory job! Thanks for the advice/help ... I appreciate it. I used to do (small) gel coat repairs for several of my friends high performance sport boats and my own, so I have some background in this area, but I wanted to be sure I was using a good glue so I only have to do it once! I think this FE rc boat hobby is going to be fun, with a lot to learn. Thanks!