Why not composite plate?

[jim lee]

I see a lot of threads about marine plywood and that got me thinking about this.

Where many tend to use plywood in their boats, we make up composite plate stock.

Take a waxed up flat surface,
Lay out a sheet of peelply,
1700 Biax
1/2" or 1/4" foam core
1700 Biax
Cover with peelpy
Bag and shoot with vinyl ester resin.

Granted we're all tooled up for this and many times its a good use for scrap materials. But why isn't this more common? Especially for repair work? I'd think for doing things like replacing rotted plywood floors etc. this would really be the ticket.

Just wondering. Your thoughts?

-jim lee

[rwatson]

I guess you wont be able to see the bottom layer of Biax to check the resin flow, unless you do it on glass.

PS - Derek Kelsall has been doing a variation of this process for years

http://www.kelsall.com/UniqueKSS/KSSMethod.htm

[Herman]

Why would you like to see the bottom laminate? If done correctly it will infuse fine, even slightly faster than the topside. I do not believe that is the reason for not doing it.

There is also the Duflex panels. Drawback of these panels is their relative stiffness. They need a lot of force to be clamped in the curve needed. For chined boats I would prefer panels with glass on only one side. The other side can be done once the curve is in the panel.

For all kind of flat panels (floors, interior) these kind of panels do a great job.