Carbon vac bagged over foam?

[justnnow]

Ive never build a boat before. I'm looking to build my own skiff based off of the I14 class.

Could I make a hull out of foam (high density I suppose) cover it with carbon, and then I suppose vac bag it to get excess resin out/have a stronger hull. The foam would stay inside the hull. Would this work? The only issue I can see with this is the foam compressing during the bagging. Oh, and figuring out how to lay out 14 feet of foam on the top and bottom of a boat and then getting is in a bag.

I feel like this would be too good to be true if I could make a boat like this. Foam is fairly easy to work with and form, and I suppose It wouldnt be super hard to get a plastic big enough to bag 14 feet of boat. I could even do it in two sections, putting carbon on the hull first, and curing it, then doing the deck. and curing that.

Ideas?

[PAR]

You would be well advised to search out the many I14 blogs and have a good look. You have a considerable amount of learning to do. In regard to laminates, bagging and other techniques, the search engine here is great and there are literally thousands of previous threads, covering about every topic you might think of. Start reading up on the materials, processes, techniques and methods. Once armed with some general knowledge, you'll be better equipped to ask specific questions, which is what this format is best at providing.

[kach22i]

I'm pretty sure you would at least want to fabric coat both sides of the foam for true "composite construction" and strength.

[DCockey]

John Lindhal of Fennville, Michigan builds A-Cats using carbon fiber over strip planked CoreCell foam. The CoreCell is ripped into narrow strips and with cove and bead edges; same as frequently used with cedar strips. I've seen a sample of John's work and there doesn't appear to be any excess resin which is relfected in the weight of his finished hulls. John doesn't vacuum bag but rather says he uses a stiff squeege. He has a blog about his latest build at: http://lindahlcompositedesign.weebly.com/ There is a Yahoo group about his previous A-Cats: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LR2ACATS/