Working on DS 1795 #2
Since vacuum bagging is not really an option anymore I had to come up with some system to clamp or press the more vertically oriented pieces of core material into place. I came up with something that worked tolerably well, but it's not perfect. I'll show the photos:
Basically, I took a piece of acrylic plastic, put three strips of wood on it, and to the middle of those strips, I attached two by fours that can hinge. I used a clamps as a presser bar and pressed the core to the hull while the bedding compound cured. For the more horizontal part, I placed sacks of sand on the core. (The white bags are the sand bags) This was a two person job, since it required 600 grams of bedding compound, and manageing the core as well as the press was awkward. The one problem with this system is it doesn't handle the compound curve of the hull as well as it ought to. When I do the other side of the boat I may thin the strips of wood that go across the plastic sheet so that the plastic can conform to the hull in the fore-and-aft direction more easily. But, I think this did work well enough. However, there will be no proof until she swims.
Here's what it looks like after I took the press off this morning:
Posted by Bob at January 10, 2005 10:41 AM
