footbraces

I am aware of the two standard ways of attaching footbraces, through the wood and using the stainless steel stud kit, and have done them both.  My question is, for the basic keeper foot brace, why can't it just be epoxied using a thichened epoxy--is this a structural concern, or is there a concern that the brace will need replacing and you will be stuck.  and might you, as an alternate method, screw through a strip of okoume and then epoxy the strip to the boat.  With a wood duck, there would be a point in construction of the hull where clamping would be pretty easy.  Wisdom?

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RE: footbraces

David,

Definitely structural. The epoxy won't bond to the footbrace plastic well enough.I've peeled off globs with my thumbnail and not a whole lot of effort.

There's also the possibility of the track being blocked by the epoxy, making adjustments impossible.

Your idea of screwing it to a piece of wood and then gluing the wood should work if the wood's thick enough, but you wouldn't need a whole strip along the brace. Other builders have used a block at each end.

If you don't care about adjustments, just use fixed wooden braces instead of the plastic ones. Those you can make from scrap wood and glue into place with no structural issues.

Laszlo

 

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