Composites foam Divinicell questions

Hey

Would appreciate some advice before I dive into this.
My Questions are; what density foam to use as and how many layers of fiberglass cloth to cover with? using epoxy

Looking to rebuild non-structural stuff like galley cabinets, doors, shelving, divider, chart table etc. It's a catamaran so is VERY weight sensitive.
Leaning toward Divinicell H45 3 Lb/Cu. Ft. or the like, covered with veneer or painted. Will this be strong enough?
Will use hand-layup, as it's a one off job, so don't want the expense of vacuum bagging etc.

Thanks!
Ryan

 

I would look into panels made from stock like the ones available http://www.tricelcorp.com/

D.

 

Took a look at that before... Looks good for regular shape applications but not sure how easy that will be to shape/sand etc. There aren't too many regular shapes on this boat. Could use if for some of the front panels I guess.

 

Take a closer look it is very easy to create inside and outside bends, by sawing kerfs on one face or the other to create the desired bend radius. Just fill the kerfs with thickend epoxy, bend, and let set. You don't need any tooling or jigging.
http://www.tricelcorp.com/tricel-honeycomb-applications/marine/technical-bulletin/

 

Its possible to use just polystyrene sheet foam and just used UV glue together with thin ply eachside . we always made internal doors like that just routered out the edge and had solid timber same as the outside face !! can be made on a nice flat surface and a thick panel ontop with sand bags to press them all together . would do a stack of 6 or 8 doors at a time and leave over night !! then work on them the next morning !! its cheap to do and easy!!

 

Still wont beat the tricel panels in terms of weight.

 

Dougfrolich,
Thanks for the link, good information.
Now if I could apply these bending techniques to complex shapes, my one-off projects could proceed rapidly!

 

dougfrolich & kapnD - you guys affiliated with tricel in any way?

Thanks for that Idea tunnels, I like it, a cost effective option.

 

ORIGAMI panels !! its all in the way you make it !!

I watched a load of polystyrene waste going down the road on a truck yestserday and thought of this post ! free !!!not cost !!
There is so much gets dumped !!
Its possible to make the 3 sides of a cabnet with a small 90degree flange at the top simply by using thin gel coated glass panels all in one length !! but with radiused corners a 50mm radius is easy to make !
I have made the whole interior panels all on a bench in one great long length using this method included a galley fronts , bunch fronts and across a bulkhed and down the other side with a front for a chart table and right to finish at a shower and toilet wall /bulkhead . The whole thing was carefully drawn out with procise measurements and the Table gell coated with a thin coat of cell and where the corners would be i used a 200 gram woven glass with a glass tissue under and peel plyed and then a 600 gram double bias where the 9 mm foam core was placed with a beveled edge facing the corners , when the foam was stuck down and had its glass over the top i then very carefully released the panel off the bench and stood it on its edge the corners bend very easy because of the thin glass used and the cored panels stay perfectly flat and fair . I had drawn the shape of everything on the table complete with all the radiused corners etc then hot glued 90degree gussets 150mm at the bottom and the height of the panel right on the lines i had drawn and then we carefully sat the panel in place and spot glued it in place , the corners find there own radius and were perfect . once all was aligned then we finished off the glassing at the back in the corners and up onto the core 2 layers of 600 to hold the corners firm once was all finished and hard with a few hands it was lifted carefully up into the hull and sat in place And the bottom edge scribed and cut over frames and a floor grid then sat inplace and glass tabed every where behind !!
Gloss white gel coated finish on all of the fronts all way round !!
The young Korean lady boat designer clicked onto the system instantly and had drawings done before the gell coat had hardened on the table
This system i had done on big boats with just standard interiors its a breeze had done it before a few times but not on anything this long !! SAVED HOURS OF WORK making panels and then sticking then together !!And as for forming radiused corners they can be a pain to make !! It smallest radius i managed to get is 35 mm using woven boat cloth and glassing and bending before the gel and risin have cured and are still soft ! form and let cure !!then glass the backside to make it strong .