Hi All
We have a saying in the marine industry which relates to a certain time of year which runs from the time the boats come out of the water until the time they are relaunched and the saying is..WE are in SILLY SEASON.
My phone has not stopped ringing this week and did not stop until 8pm tonight so even with the best intentions I have not been able to complete all of the glassing.
I have managed to get the side rails and the back end glassed and Ian there are a few pics of different laminates and an explanation of what is used and why at the end ok .
So laminates cut ,side rails wet out we roll the glass along the length.
We then ease the glass over the sides and tie them into the gelled area.
Give it a good roller out and we end up with this.
The same was done on the other side but I seem to have lost that pic somewhere along the line !
The back end was completed in the usual way.
Ian thank you for your interest in my ramblings and hopefully this will give you a bit more insight to what is what and why.
Picture 1 shows a very thin lightweight powder bound csm.
This type of laminate is used as an interface between gel and ordinary csm if tissue laminate is not available or required in a build spec.
It can also be used as an interface between certain heavy duty foams that are used in the industry.
Its messy to use and quite expensive.
Pic 2 shows an ordinary csm.
The 'grain' is much more pronounced as you can see and as you know this is what has been used throughout Mikes project.
It is very easy to use,does not cost the earth and it what is generally sold by Halfrauds and the like for patch repairs.
Pic 3 shows a woven roving.
This is used for 'bulking up' on various areas which keeps the weight down but the strength high.
Again not too expensive but can be a pain to use as the ribbons tend to separate as they are laminated and you end up with the stuff wrapped around rollers and you can get in a hell of a mess.
Been there ,done that.
It is also best used on large flat surfaces as the weave does not lend itself well to being pushed into tight corners etc.
Commonly used on truck bodies and you can often see a chequred pattern showing through a paint job.
This is the footprint of the matt showing.
Pic 4 shows what a combi matt looks like although I have clearly laid a csm on top of the woven as I dont have any here at the moment.
Used for very high strength areas,quite difficult to work and heavy from the outset.
What needs to be considered with any laminating is what is best for the job.
Obviously a very heavy combi to make moulds with is dumb as is using a powder bound csm.
Enourmous strength can be obtained by using different types of foam, balsa scrim, foam scrim, flat foam high density foam blah blah blah and then glassing over the top.
We recently chopped the back end out of a brand new 64ft power boat to fit a gyroscopic stabiliser system (£68k just for the gyro ) and used foam to make mounting beds and then incredibly just 3 layers of Diagonap laminate to tie it into the hull structure.
Diagonap is a specific requirement laminate for this type of job and has the weave laid out in a diagonal pattern which gives it the strength but is relatively light weight and as some of my colleagues found out really difficult to use
I wont bore you with any more crap now but you get the gist of what is explained here I hope.
Again thank you for your very kind comments.
More tomorrow.
cheers
P