Barrelback update

[RobertCugini]

Progress is being made.
Finished the second layer on the sides.
Now for a couple of layers on the bottom
Transom is finished.
The vacuum bagging technique results in a very good finished product.
I cant believe how tight it makes everything once you get the technique down.

I'll soon be doing finish layers!

[jprice]

That's really cool!
How did you get the plastic to be completely sealed against the hull?
How do you prevent the vacuum from sucking up epoxy? Or is it just a closed bag on top of the hull?

[Bob Perkins]

Nice work!

I switched to duct tape to seal. The yellow vacuum tape got too expensive.
Isn't it great how solid the laminations are?
Keep it up!

[RobertCugini]

Bob:

You lowered the learning curve on this greatly!

The yellow tape is available from a local supplier and its not much more than the duck tape.
I suspect that is because of all the composite work being done in the aerospace industry in Seattle.
I've also adopted your comments on pleats and it greatly helps!

Robert

[mrintense]

Progress is being made.
Finished the second layer on the sides.
Now for a couple of layers on the bottom
Transom is finished.
The vacuum bagging technique results in a very good finished product.
I cant believe how tight it makes everything once you get the technique down.

I'll soon be doing finish layers!

When I worked for United Airlines, we used this technique for all our composite work. It does indeed result in very tight work. There's nothing like vacuum bagging for this kind of job. The biggest problem is maintaining the vacuum seal on complex bags. But with a little forethought and patience, all challenges can be overcome.

I am considering cold molding for my Vera Cruise although that will be dependent upon information which I still don't have yet. Nonetheless, if I do us CM, I will be using vac bagging to do the job.