Always hang your resin supply buckets above application site and make sure none of the resin supply lines hang below final nozzle vertical height. there is only so much that a vacuum can pull a viscus fluid and allowing the lines to flop on the floor is not good practice. Realize that the vacuum suction has to over come this vertical displace called HEAD and all the other frictional forces inside the woolen material last, so if the total vacuum suction head is lost it will always happen in your fiberglass material and that is the worst place to have a process failure. Remember hang em high babe! Besides that great video, and thanks for post it!
Also it's worth noting that we were mainly interested in performing what we believe was a first for infusion directly onto a timber construction. For sure it may have used more resin than tradition hand lay up but I can guarantee you that the resin/fibre ratio is far more consistent than traditional hand lay up. Also, to achieve the film thickness we got in 1hr of resin infusion would have taken 5 coats of hand lay up. Given the gel time between coats this is a far quicker, cleaner, relaxed meth
Thank you for your comments. This method is by no means complicated, it uses standard resin infusion consumables which were all cut to size with no panic of working to a gel time. The only reason 6 people were in the video is purely because they were interested to see the process. One of the guys is a client of ours and two are work colleagues of mine. The others in the video are myself, my father (who's boat it is) and a guy from Wessex Resins who is helping with the process.
Hi Matthieu - the perforated film was used as a release film for the distribution mesh. Without this it would have been extremely difficult to remove the mesh after the resin had cured.
Finally, if we all worked on the premise that tradition is best then we would still be producing clinker built Viking sailing yachts. The idea was to incorporate traditional boat building materials with modern and repeatable building methods
Than you for your comments! We doubled the bag back around the inside of the hull. We didn't bag the inside of the hull, we were pretty meticulous sealing the joints with epoxy to avoide any leaks. The yacht is now sailing on the Norfolk broads, an article will be published early next year in a magazine called Watercraft
As an engineer I like the process, finish and strength. But I do wonder if it could be done with less labor, and hopefully less plastic waste. In other words, if you were in a production run of hulls, could you simply use an 1/8" thick silicone bag like we do in the aerospace industry, set up the vacuum lines and feed lines appropriately, and call it good? No waste other than maybe some tubing?
+Tad Johnson why are they even doing resin infusion on a cedar cored hull, the weight/resin savings will be negligible compared to overall weight. This is clearly not a ultra high performance hull, no honeycomb, no foam-core. One guy could wet this out by hand in an hour, with no waste at all. I guess it's a good demo for the method.
I think it has to do with compaction of the composite layers. It increases strength by 20 percent. Given the weight of the base material I'm not sure weight is a factor.
In an hour ??? Did you try it yourself to say it ? I guess not. However, besides that you're right : I fail to see the pros for such an intensive labor with a traditional result : epoxy impregnation have been used for about 40 years now and I don't see any iirovement in the result except more plastIc waste, more technology and a lot more manpower (this must be the most expensive part of the process). Then again maybe the result is more effective ? Would like to know.
+vincent7520 Never infused an entire hull personally. I do like the silicone method the best for small parts since it's the least wasteful. Once the silicone bag is made it can be re-used many times, and quickly setup for each infusion. The catalyzed silicone material is not cheap however.
Indeed, but man the 20 percent better compaction and lower usage of binder, epoxy, vinyl ester, etc, is much less. Reusable silicone bag system seems to be the best still, as long as the part size doesn't change.
Is it possible to infuse by sections? If manual application of resin to fiberglass can take layers, can an infusion be done as to produce joints? The infusion gets rid of gaps and bubbles anyways and the structural element of the hull is the wood, not the fiberglass, will a sectional/phase infusion work?
Few questions about this infusion (as Id like to do this on a cedar strip canoe to save sanding time). What mix did you seal the cedar with? My plan is to coat the bare cedar with a layer of epoxy and filler. Let it dry. Prep it and then proceed with a standard infusion layup. Also regarding the perforated release. Thats in addition to standard peel ply correct? Thanks in advance.
Never mind the peel ply comment. I see it was answered in the video. Makes so much sense to use the perforated ply in addition to the standard peel ply. Still would like to know more detail on sealing the wood and joints. Thanks.
Yeah, not good feeding from one side of a hull like that, that's why you panicked and added extra feeds. Also, what did you do about the resin starved areas on the feed side of the hull, near your vacuum materials?
Always hang your resin supply buckets above application site and make sure none of the resin supply lines hang below final nozzle vertical height. there is only so much that a vacuum can pull a viscus fluid and allowing the lines to flop on the floor is not good practice. Realize that the vacuum suction has to over come this vertical displace called HEAD and all the other frictional forces inside the woolen material last, so if the total vacuum suction head is lost it will always happen in your fiberglass material and that is the worst place to have a process failure. Remember hang em high babe! Besides that great video, and thanks for post it!
Also it's worth noting that we were mainly interested in performing what we believe was a first for infusion directly onto a timber construction. For sure it may have used more resin than tradition hand lay up but I can guarantee you that the resin/fibre ratio is far more consistent than traditional hand lay up. Also, to achieve the film thickness we got in 1hr of resin infusion would have taken 5 coats of hand lay up. Given the gel time between coats this is a far quicker, cleaner, relaxed meth
Thank you for your comments. This method is by no means complicated, it uses standard resin infusion consumables which were all cut to size with no panic of working to a gel time. The only reason 6 people were in the video is purely because they were interested to see the process. One of the guys is a client of ours and two are work colleagues of mine. The others in the video are myself, my father (who's boat it is) and a guy from Wessex Resins who is helping with the process.
Hi Matthieu - the perforated film was used as a release film for the distribution mesh. Without this it would have been extremely difficult to remove the mesh after the resin had cured.
Finally, if we all worked on the premise that tradition is best then we would still be producing clinker built Viking sailing yachts. The idea was to incorporate traditional boat building materials with modern and repeatable building methods
Than you for your comments! We doubled the bag back around the inside of the hull. We didn't bag the inside of the hull, we were pretty meticulous sealing the joints with epoxy to avoide any leaks. The yacht is now sailing on the Norfolk broads, an article will be published early next year in a magazine called Watercraft
We used a vary light coating of spray glue to tack everything in place
As an engineer I like the process, finish and strength. But I do wonder if it could be done with less labor, and hopefully less plastic waste. In other words, if you were in a production run of hulls, could you simply use an 1/8" thick silicone bag like we do in the aerospace industry, set up the vacuum lines and feed lines appropriately, and call it good? No waste other than maybe some tubing?
+Tad Johnson why are they even doing resin infusion on a cedar cored hull, the weight/resin savings will be negligible compared to overall weight. This is clearly not a ultra high performance hull, no honeycomb, no foam-core. One guy could wet this out by hand in an hour, with no waste at all. I guess it's a good demo for the method.
I think it has to do with compaction of the composite layers. It increases strength by 20 percent. Given the weight of the base material I'm not sure weight is a factor.
In an hour ???
Did you try it yourself to say it ?
I guess not. However, besides that you're right : I fail to see the pros for such an intensive labor with a traditional result : epoxy impregnation have been used for about 40 years now and I don't see any iirovement in the result except more plastIc waste, more technology and a lot more manpower (this must be the most expensive part of the process).
Then again maybe the result is more effective ? Would like to know.
+vincent7520 Never infused an entire hull personally. I do like the silicone method the best for small parts since it's the least wasteful. Once the silicone bag is made it can be re-used many times, and quickly setup for each infusion. The catalyzed silicone material is not cheap however.
Indeed, but man the 20 percent better compaction and lower usage of binder, epoxy, vinyl ester, etc, is much less. Reusable silicone bag system seems to be the best still, as long as the part size doesn't change.
whats the point using the perforated film? this causes more waste of epoxy going into your catchpot?
More Than Feeling, Boston! Matched it without Sazam!
Is it possible to infuse by sections? If manual application of resin to fiberglass can take layers, can an infusion be done as to produce joints? The infusion gets rid of gaps and bubbles anyways and the structural element of the hull is the wood, not the fiberglass, will a sectional/phase infusion work?
Few questions about this infusion (as Id like to do this on a cedar strip canoe to save sanding time). What mix did you seal the cedar with? My plan is to coat the bare cedar with a layer of epoxy and filler. Let it dry. Prep it and then proceed with a standard infusion layup. Also regarding the perforated release. Thats in addition to standard peel ply correct? Thanks in advance.
Never mind the peel ply comment. I see it was answered in the video. Makes so much sense to use the perforated ply in addition to the standard peel ply. Still would like to know more detail on sealing the wood and joints. Thanks.
👏👏👏👏👏👏🇧🇷💯
Yeah, not good feeding from one side of a hull like that, that's why you panicked and added extra feeds. Also, what did you do about the resin starved areas on the feed side of the hull, near your vacuum materials?
Coulda just resin and edge rollered it in half the amount of time
Yes, on this job it is a total waste of time and materials.
Are you using anything to keep the sheets from sliding off while you work?
Oh Brother !
what's the song?