I am building a trestle table for outdoor use. The wood is doug fir, straight vertical grain, and knot-free. I finished jointing and planning the stock wood to final dimension of 1.75" x 5.75" x 9'. I plan to use 6 boards to make a top of roughly 36" wide. The length is ~80".
The top was modeled in Sketchup with each board spaced 1/4" apart and secured with three cleats and 1/4" diameter stainless steel lag bolts underneath. The spaces are there to allow for rain water to drip to the ground. Now, I am debating if I should glue the boards together to make a solid top and not be so worried about rain (given a good outdoor stain/finish is applied). I plan to use Titebond III for glue (the table sits underneath a pergola which has wisteria climbing on it).
So, to glue or not to glue?