Which Glue for plastic live well?

T

Thudpucker

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My son-in-law made a live well out of the sheets of plexi-glass or lexan you buy at Lowes.
He used GE Bathtub calk to glue all the pieces together. Sort of a Cost reduced live well that didnt hold water very long. Almost Chinese quality stuff. Not quite.

So now that I have all these loose pieces I can glue them together if I knew which Glue would work.
I tried the Plastic Pipe adhesive and two part epoxy. Niether worked well at all. The right kind of glue will meld itself to the material.

I welded the sides together with a soldering iron, which did good, but it will still crack apart under vibration.

Who knows the right stuff?
 
Thud, If Plexiglass use a product called WELDON. any plastic supply should have it.

If Lexan, may be hard to stick.

Be sure to wear your boots or you may have a lot of little fishies swimming around your toes.
 
Thud

Google lexan glue.

The best type of adhesive for lexan contains THF (tetrohydrofuran). Basically, it melts the lexan. Same type of product for gluing CPVC.

Did your son-in-law use a GE silicone for the initial glue up?

Usually, it's very difficult to get good a long term bond when trying to glue polycarbonate or acryilic sheet for exterior applications because of the co-efficient of expansion and contraction. You create a tremendous amount of force on the bondline when the plastic cycles between hot and cold . Interior applications are much easier because the product does not see the wide temperature extremes.

In a lot of instances they sonic weld the acrylic or polycarbonate and acheive good results. However, that doesn't help you.

Bob
 
LOL, you know you have some sort of a problem in your boat when you have littel fishies swimming around your toes.
It's time to put down the Rod and do some investigating. A person might even head for the Beach at a fair clip.

Thanks for those tips. Bob's was a little bit of a challenge for my old mind.
I'm going to a boat show up in Huntsville AL tomorrow. Maybe one of those vendors will have the stuff I need.
Since I dont know what exactly he used, I'll have to go by a Lowes store and see what they sell.
I think that's referred to as SWAG. Maybe I'll just buy both and see which one works.

Rob I never got those Blue Barrels to work for me. Your welding was probably the answer, but we are just too far apart to make a project like that workable.
I wound up using more of my old Dish washer plastic that would weld with a soldering iron.
 
I never thought of trying the PVC cleaner as a glue. Maybe that will work too.
I went to lowes this AM and found out they have both kinds of stuff in that same bin.
Now I dont know what to do.
I got the 'plakolites.com' address off the labels and will see what they have to say.
 
one catch with all these glues. once filled with water, then can leech into the water and kill the fish, defeating the purpose.
 
Thats a good point Mike. I read all this afternoon at the various sites that offer Glues and not once was that issue addressed.
Those little buggers die for no reason at all. I had a Live well in another boat in Louisiana. I had to leave it dry or it would get some kind of bacteria out of the lake and kill the little minnows within an hour.
Another time we used a throw-net to get bait and put them in the live well, which had water from the same lake in it, and they all died too.
I never used that live-well again. Even washing it with a clorox mix didnt kill whatever it was.
That was a wood live well made of Cypress for whatever that's worth.
I'd probably be better off usin a Cooler with a pump dropped in the top under the lid.
 
A better material choice would be PVC sheet and std PVC glue. Available at Piedmont Plastics or GE Polymershapes. Or other plastics supply house.

You can also build the tank out of PVC ( for example, or fiberglass or wood, etc ) then use a plexiglas window, face mounted, in a bed of aquarium silicone and through bolted ( using oversize holes in the plexiglas, and using washers and more silcone )which would allow for the difference in the coefficient of expansion.
 
Thud, we done had this discussion before.......(serious answer coming)...get some duct tape and some "MARINE GOOP". I have told you that duct tape is a universal redneck repair and construction material. You can NOT fix anything WITHOUT it!!! Electric tape and fishing line just wont work.

Take the surfaces of each sheet and rough them up with a grinder, file, etc. rough them back about 3/4 - 1 from the mating surface on both the inside and the outside. Apply a layer between the mating surfaces and then hold them together. Apply a layer about 1/4 inch thick to the inside and outside that covers the surface that was roughed up. Cover these seam with duct tape immediately. The duct tape holds the GOOP in place while it sets and also holds the box together during construction.

Marine GOOP is available at tru value, ace, some lowes and home depots, even at some wal marts. I saw a tube one time that would fit into a caulk gun, but usually it is in a squeeze tube.

Oh yea, it wont be easy to get it off your hands, best thing is to wash them in warm water, wait about 10 minutes, and peel it off.

We used this method to repair the outer tubs of commercial washing machines (both metal and plastic). 13 years...probably 500 machines, NEVER 1 leak!!!!

Let the box sit for about 24 hours, fill with water, and enjoy.
 
Oh yeah! Duct tape..I forgot, its still holdun mama's dentures in place with all that slobber...!

GOOP eh? I used a bunch of that stuff on waders. It even stayed pliable when the Rubber Waders were frozen and broke when they were moved.
So I have 130 linear inches of seam to make. 1" wide and assuming 1/16" average thickness that'd be just about one tube. I have already heat welded the box parts together so I wont need the Duct tape. Except to make it look a ho-bunch like the rest of the boat.
If that stuff lasts a long time, I may still have the tube I brought down from Alaska in 97. It was a couple years old by then, so about 10 brutal summes and some chilly winters....yeah that tube should be seasond enough for this job.

If this Glacier those Canadiens have sent down upon us, ever receeds I'll get out for some Cat Fishing.
What'd we ever do to those guys?
 
quote:
Originally posted by Thudpucker

Oh yeah! Duct tape..I forgot, its still holdun mama's dentures in place with all that slobber...!

GOOP eh? I used a bunch of that stuff on waders. It even stayed pliable when the Rubber Waders were frozen and broke when they were moved.
So I have 130 linear inches of seam to make. 1" wide and assuming 1/16" average thickness that'd be just about one tube. I have already heat welded the box parts together so I wont need the Duct tape. Except to make it look a ho-bunch like the rest of the boat.
If that stuff lasts a long time, I may still have the tube I brought down from Alaska in 97. It was a couple years old by then, so about 10 brutal summes and some chilly winters....yeah that tube should be seasond enough for this job.

If this Glacier those Canadiens have sent down upon us, ever receeds I'll get out for some Cat Fishing.
What'd we ever do to those guys?

Click to expand...
Since 97???? That tube might be a goner.
With 130 linear inches X 1 inch on each side of the welded seam on the inside X 1 inch on each side of the welded seam on the outside = about 5 tubes. Plus the one roll of duct tape, i figure about 15 - 20 bucks should fix it right up. And as an added BONUS, you will have enough duct tape left to keep mama's store bought teeth in place fer a long time!!!!

I take it that the weather is a little chilly in bama. It was brutally cold here today, barely made it to 70. Hope it warms up there so you can get some catfishing in. Not much better eating than fresh channel cats.

Let me know how the Goop works out for you, and stay warm.
 
Brutally cold? 70?
I had to be in Missippi this evening. Its a lot warmer here than Bama.
Be back at it in a few days.
 
The brutal part was the wind. We had about a 15 mph wind all day with gust up to about 25. Made it feel like it was 65 plus or minus. LOL
I hate it when I have to look for socks and long pants. I prefer my sandals and shorts.

Do not forget to get the Marine goop, not the plumbers, household, and what ever other types they make.
 
I went to Barrow AK for a few days one fall.
The temp was -50, and the wind was coming in from the North West off the Arctic Ice pack at 20-30 Mph, gusting higher.
Who knows if the windchill charts go down that low?
The one thing that becomes appearnt immediatly is that us white Crackers dont belong up there.
 
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