Boat building was the first industry that started to use composites and to assemble it by bonding, starting in the fifties and sixties in USA. These composites were at that time only glass reinforced plastics, and the plastic matrixes were only based on polyester resins, and GRP is still today by far the largest composite used for leisure boats.
GRP boats market developed very fast in the sixties because many fishermen wanted to have a simple, small fishing boat. The hulls and decks were molded separately by contact, the resin was cured at room temperature, and later the deck was bonded to the hull by using polyester putties or adhesives, because the compatibility was obvious. Stringers, stiffeners, foam cores and later bulkheads were also bonded to the hull and to the deck. Later larger sailing boats and racing boats were also made of GRP with some bonding.
Polyester putties are 2 components system based on polyester resin plus methyl ethyl ketone peroxide MEKP which is used as a catalyst. They are cheap and excellent to fill large gaps between deck and hull.