Baja Marine Corp. (Bucyrus, OH) manufactures high-performance speedboats, and it takes pride in its nontraditional boat designs. The company’s very first model was assembled in an abandoned roller-skating rink. But over the years, the company has grown, and its boat line has expanded to include 14- to 20-foot boats, 19-foot cruisers and bowriders, and offshore models.

Today, Baja Marine continues to look to the future. This forward-looking vision is incorporated into every aspect of the company—from designing advanced hulls with constantly evolving styles and graphics to manufacturing better, faster boats.

Baja’s commitment to building better, faster boats led the company to rethink its manufacturing process when building the new Outlaw line of boats. The boats are constructed of balsa wood and fiberglass laminate. Afterward, they are finished with a glossy gel coat.

Baja Marine chose ITW Plexus’ (Danvers, MA) Fiberglass Fusion adhesive for the deck-to-hull joints. Other construction methods involved the deck and hull being bolted together. However, the company discovered that severe cracking or crazing can occur around the fasteners due to normal load stresses.

The Fiberglass Fusion adhesives is a methacrylate compound that can bond to virtually all polyester resins and gel coats, as well as most thermoplastics and metals.

The adhesive requires no primer, sanding, grinding or any other surface preparation. The adhesive also cures rapidly at room temperature.

The company has found that bonding with the adhesive eliminates the cracking problem and distributes stresses along the entire deck-to-hull joint instead of bolt holes. The adhesive has also simplified and shortened assembly time.

For more information on adhesives, call ITW Plexus at 978-777-1100 or visit www.itwplexus.com.