Thoughts for second float half

Have had the past few days away from the project to ponder how this half will happen.  Originally I wanted to infuse as much as possible.  The first half we ended up doing a hand-layup on – partially because I didn’t give thought to how to get an airtight seal at the deck area, and then by the time I might have thought of a way, it was just there and ready for laminate, begging to do it that night… so I did.. 🙂

However, there are a few areas that I’m not completely happy with, mostly at the deck join, which I’m going to do different this time around (well, hopefully… I’m going to send an email to Ian and make sure this is OK structurally).  What I’m thinking is this :

Extend the foam approx. 2″ past the inside keel line (on the top looking at the float half), forward of where the bow gets cut, and aft of the transom cut-line.  This will give sufficient area to form a seal.  For the deck flange, I am going to bond the 3/4×3/4 angle into place and use the deck-side as a sealing point for the bag.  This should allow a completely air-tight area for infusing.  After the infusion is complete, I will then lap the fiberglass up for the deck joint.  Most likely going to wet it out on plastic and then put into place, as trying to squeegy excess resin from this proved almost impossible, and the fiberglass un-stiched itself in many areas in the process.  It looks uglier than I would have liked, though still quite functional.  I am also going to ask Ian if using the DBM1208 tape for the deck joint is suitable without doubling it up (since fibers are 45/45 instead of 0/90 as the rest of the laminate) – if I can use tape, then that will make it even cleaner – a 6″ piece lapping onto the laminate a few inches then a 4″ piece for the extra laminate.

Some might ask why I’m going thru all this trouble to infuse… First is that I really like the process and feel like it produces a very quality part.   Second, I have a lot of hardener specifically for this purpose that I’ll be damned if I’m going to waste and have to purchase extra hand-layup hardener to do this… just seems silly, especially since I think I might have figured a work-around for the area of concern.

Also need to start thinking about where to construct the float decks.  Once this half gets pulled from the mold, the frames get reversed and the opposing halves built – at that point I’ll be pretty close to needing a deck to fit on the first float to get it out of the garage and into storage for the next.