Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Vacuum leaks

Small leaks in the vacuum table may not have any effect on a wet vacuum lay up but it might have severe effect on the end result of a vacuum infused panel. My last panel seems to have gotten some air in to the bag somewhere in the process before gelling but after I left the building. Not sure how severe effects this has on the final bulkheads, some more curing and a few test will decide what to do. I need another surface on my table, that's for sure, and I have asked my fellow builders for advice. I am not able to source Melamine in Norway but I consider importing it . Help appreciated.

I have also received a few helpful hints about other materials useful as a vacuum table top and will explore the possibilities further.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Back to civilization - various subjects

After two days of job related activities at Ilsetra (I have experienced much worse!) I met my wife and son and we spent the week in a family place close to Lillehammer (Winter Olympics 14 years ago and my birthplace). No electricity nor other modern facilities, just a lot of time - and a lot of snow. This is a brief presentation of a typical Norwegian winter activity, in my opinion an excellent form of recreation.



When back I discover a frustrated builders community but I don't think this will have any further impact on the great sharing of experience and ideas on the web except everyone will be a bit more cautious about posting intellectual properties - which was, the way I interpret it, the intention of the designer - at least I will. Keep it up guys! I will by the way be happy to answer any questions regarding skiing.

I cut out the bulkheads from the full size patterns provided along with the drawings that I obtained against a most reasonable fee along with five years of e-mail support:


Then I faired for a few hours and after strokeing the surface for a while I found a few spots where I could fit some more fairing compound:

Mostly along the keel that had been approached from two sides with little or no coherence in the two sides' application:

I'm consistently covered in dust these days.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Short report on bulkhead infusion

This is what the panel looked like the following day. The resin has a ten hour open time, so the resin continued to flow for quite a while after I left. It appears here to be a few dry spots, that is however only the peel ply and the laminate itself seems to be fully saturated.

Today I removed the bag and lifted the panel from the table. It was very well stuck despite several appliances of "Nor-slipp" wax, but I finally was able to lift it off the table using force x arm principles. This event also demonstrated the incredible stiffness in these materials, the whole panel, consisting of all four beam bulkheads, with peel ply left on weighing only 4,2 kg (9,2 pounds).
Picture showing the underside. The grooves and overlaps print through and is slightly visible:


I will be spending the nest week in a 1880's lodge, no power, no running water, so obviously no boat building nor blogging.