Laminating second float

Some readers of this blog have asked different questions regarding vacuum and laminate, so in this post I will try to cover these steps of the building.

Starting cutting the different layers. Here the peelply. Once cut, the pieces are put aside for later use. Preparing is rule when vacuumbagging. All materials should be ready once the epoxy work starts. I made this rolling rack to move the diffrent matrials around. From the top you see bleeder fabric, perforated film and 40 + 60 grit sandpaper, peelply, and bottom is glass.

Rolling the bleeder and put aside. What is going on besides this I do not know, Musse seems very exited about this, I look more skeptical.

Preparing the seal at hatch with tacky tape. Glass is ready for

Mixing epoxy by weight.

Musse roll epoxy on the fabric, I use a sqeegee to remove the surplus. It should be like a good hand layup when finish, only vacuum help clamping it together at elephant weight/m2 or something like that. There is no air left at all, all corner are tight, and more epoxy is absorbed by the bleeder fabric so a higher glass/epoxy ratio is achieved.

Peel ply extending past the laminate, which overlap the keel.
The Perforated film. Starring Martin F with friends.

The perforated film 2 . Starring Martin F in absentia.

I here show one sort of vacuum port I got. The two parts are twist-locked together with the bag between them. And the bleeder is put on .

I seal the bag around the hatch. I drilled a 3 mm hole in the shroud bulkhead so air can get into the aft end of the float. If this is not done the float will collapse. On the float is a batten with the vacuum hose attached. It got 4 outtakes. I do not use port for these ( I will maybe by some) I just seal them in the edge of the bag.

The bag is ready
The very smart vacuum coupling, sorry I only got one.
Musse connect the push in ( not up) hose.


The Blue lines are from the old Dupont ( see below) the transperant runs to Dupond.


Vacuum is being drawn.


My old pump, an Edwards from england. Cannot get along with the new so I had to seperate them by a wall, but there is no door so they can hear each other. Very handy if one of them falls asleep. What a story this is????


My new pump, an Edwards from england. Confused, welcome in the club, so I named them Dupont and Dupond. This one then being Dupond. This one got some kind of exhort filter seen on the top. Very happy with the floor marking though.


Unwrapping the cured float. Bag can be seen at the end. Bleeder on the floor.

A look at the laminate close up. It almost look dry but it is loaded with strong juice. Very course fabric I got from my supplier, a roving this is. This is super.

Again a look at the final laminate with additional reinforcement, seen as more green in the middle. This is an extra layer on each side of the float.
Good night everybody.

Laminated one float.

Jorn came by to spend some days with us, fishing, and helping me out with the lamination of the outer skin. Here we unwrap the last half (did one side at a time). If I had those synthetic staples then maybe I could do both in one go, but I don't mind splitting the process into two sessions. I use the same bag, sealing it at the stern and bow. It is so big that I just cut of the sealant tape at one end and reused it. I can still use it for the other half.

Checking the quality and it is fine. Sorry I did not use camera while laminating but I was alone the first half, will shot some the next half.

Note hat competition: Who got the highest stupid looking hat. And the winner is me off cause(to the left just to be sure)

Sanding and filling

So I am filling and sanding two times, first I fill lows then sand with longboard(1/2 hour each side) then another fill, then a pass with the excenter, which is connected to the vacuum cleaner and therefore cleans all the dust from longboard. The longboard could be made with a connection to the VC but I don't think it is that dusty yet. Maybe I do it when the real sanding gets going after the lamination of outer skin. It look like a lot of bog but it is quite thin. And I think I save some work in fairing a bit not instead of doing all fairing on top of glass. I shall see if it proves to be the way to do this. All Farrier writes on this is like: fair until reasonable fair but avoid using to much bog as it adds weight. True but the boat needs to be fair and it is better to sand foam than fairing compound. Well I hope I'm doing fine. I must admit that I should have been more aware of the scallop effect I wrote about earlier. It could have saved some pounds. I think I used a kilo of bog per float, and then I sanded 30% off so we are taking 0.75 kilo. Compare to the estimated weight of the outer skin that will be glass 7 kilo, epoxy app. 6 kilo = 13 kilo. So then the bog is not a weight issue to me. But I fear that the fairing compound will be a lot more weight, I guess 5 kilo pr float maybe more. But we will see........ From the corner again

Float Hatches

I know this should have been before fairing and chainplates but I did not find time for blogging until now, so I do 3 blogs in a row.

So a hatch needs edges and I start with the ends

Then I do the corners first and fix these to the hull.

A screw here and there keep sides in place.


The sides are now glue to ends and a filling bog is set in the vcorner for glassing.

Ready for glass. I do both in-and outside. This is to fasten the vacuum bag later so the outer fabric will overlap this layer.

Glassed and peel ply on top. Peel ply is so nice to use and it make a great texture to bond next layer without or minimum sanding.

Finished hatch opening. A little bigger that in the plans but I hope it is alright. I got some big light hatches very cheap so that is why. But a big hole is convenient to load stuff, and to work in, when upside down .

This is the hatch I bought, 35 euro a piece, that is a tenth of a a normal hatch with alu frame and acrylic glass. And they are light!! I hope they are water tight, manufacturer claim that they are.

Chain plate install

I test the fit before filling bog in corners and glassing.


Tip: Do install chain plate before joining, it is much easier than to do it through a 150 mm hole.
High density foam in place.

Final fitted stil with peelply , great stuff that keeps the glass tight.