New Vacuum Infusion Method: US patent 7,273,576

[allan white]

New Vacuum Infusion Method:

After nine years of R&D, I have received a US patent for a new method of hull and fuselage construction. The method uses perforated architectural wood veneer with layers of carbon, aramid or hybrid reinforcements. Each piece of veneer is overlapped with adjacent piece about 3/8” to ¾” depending on the specific project. The perforations in the veneer and the small continuous triangle that is formed by the overlapping veneers allows the hull to be vacuum infused without the need of expense of infusion media. The overlap of the veneer greatly increases the stiffness of the hull while adding little weight.

I have built solo canoes based on a stretched “Wee Lassie”. I increased the length from 10’-6” to 13’-6 to increase its capacity. Raw hulls can be as light as 10.5 lbs and are strong enough to pull form the mould and paddle without gunnales or thwarts. My lightest finished 13’-6” canoe to date weights 14.7 lbs with wood gunnales and varnish.

The full patent can be viewed at uspto.gov/patfit/index.html. The patent number is 7,273,576. I would appreciate comments.

Allan White