Infusion Q&A

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by jim lee, Dec 17, 2009.

  1. Herman
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    Herman Senior Member

    Why not cover the foam in a thin hand laminated laminate, before infusing the bulk of the laminate? :)

    As Henny (Fram) demonstrated, it is perfectly possible to infuse on bare foam.

    But even with one-off moulds like in the first links things can go wrong. (leaks).
     
  2. yves
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    yves Junior Member

    Thanks, Henny was right on everything then :)

    And what is the most common method using infusion for one offs ?

    And reading Henny's site, I'm becoming sold on a tri ..., when I was thinking kind of a Lerouge twin keel 34' or 35' ..

    btw about the fram's site, a small typo in :
    http://www.fram.nl/faq/trimaran/trimaran.htm#

    The island is "île de Groix", or "Groix island" in English I guess
     
  3. Fram
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    Fram Junior Member

    Ha Ha it is not for the first time a cat lover switches to a tri after seeing my tri build :p

    No typo, I prefer the French name as that is what we are used to do in our Dutch language. Like Amsterdam and not Amsterdamned ;)
     
  4. yves
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    yves Junior Member

    Not really a cat fan, was thinking a mono twin keel, something like below :

    [​IMG]

    or :

    [​IMG]
    (this one is for sale in fact)

    Otherwise still a typo ! It is "île de Groix" (with a G) not "île de la Croix" ;)
    (Groix being a proper name without special meaning to my knowledge)
    And if using French names the Biscay gulf is "golfe de Gascogne" :p

    But indeed these tris look really nice and seems to me they do not need to be as big as a cat to be ok for ocean crossing ?

    Do you know if the "trimax" new model is coming along ?
     
  5. Herman
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    Herman Senior Member

    I haven't heard from Trimax for a while.

    As for building a tri, my advise is still to do strip planking in foam on male stations, apply laminate by hand for the outer skin, and infuse the inside. In general this is a balance between simplicity, building speed and quality. For first time DIY-ers I do recommend to hire a laminating crew for the outer skin.

    As for double keelers, the only one I sailed was this handsome racer:

    [​IMG]
     
  6. yves
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    yves Junior Member

    Thanks for the info Herman, for the time being living in Paris I for sure cannot start a DIY, but may move soon ...
    The second tween keeler above (9,60 meters) won the "transquadra"(cross atalntic amateur race), will rent it for a week in September I think.
     
  7. Herman
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    Herman Senior Member

    Not bad for a rental.
     
  8. yves
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    yves Junior Member

    It's the "Olea 32" (previous name was Bongo 960), Architect Pierre Rolland , you can also rent a smaller Olea 30 (8,70 meters), similar design also twin keel in la Trinité sur Mer :

    http://www.spi-location.com/index.php/notre-flotte

    They are not builded anymore, really quite a few small shipyards closing down these days ...

    Going back at infusion, was looking Henny's video below :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47D5AYTPMNI

    What an amazing project !

    But so, a kind of brown product is put in the foam pieces joints before infusing the inner skin ? What is it ?

    And the outer skin infused in one go hull and deck ? making the beams joints hole air tight before ?

    Again so amazing to look at this ..., going to be the best farrier around !

    But this isn't a home garage, you could fit two double deck buses there at least ! :)

    Something wrong happenned at the bow, or meant to be done like that ?
     
  9. Herman
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    Herman Senior Member

    I am sure Henny will chime in, but perhaps he is already enjoying his canalboat.

    The brown stuff is epoxy with microballoons. The outer skin indeed is infused all way round. Something he really liked to do.

    Henny started in his (extended) garage at his house, but about 1,5 years ago he bought a new house, with a mooring in front of it. He moved the building project to the hall of his company. (its never bad to be the boss...)

    I cannot comment on the bow, as I was too lazy to look at the video.
     
  10. Fram
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    Fram Junior Member

    Indeed short of Internet connection. At this moment in the Apple store at Covent Garden Market London :)

    What went wrong in the bow ? I don't know something went wrong. Apperently you have seen something in the video I don't know of.

    Indeed, the brown stuf is epoxy with micro balloons which I use as a glue between the foam sheets.

    Regarding the workshop, I prefer my small cosy garage at (my previous) home but unfortunately I now have to do it with this well equipped very large workshop at my company location, feeling like having a second job. No complaining however ;)

    Family is waiting have to go, bye
     
  11. yves
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    yves Junior Member

    At around 13:20 the bow appears to have been cut in non very symetric fashion, but I guess normal process to put the bow sprint tube or something !

    Great work and great workshop. You have to be a bit of a gambler to infuse the whole thing at once, no ? Must have been one special moment ! :)

    Have a nice vacation ! (me just back :( )
    cheers,
    Yves
     
  12. Fram
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    Fram Junior Member

  13. Herman
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    Herman Senior Member

    I think I saw Teun de Vries (Polyworx) present, which is very reassuring. A true infusion specialist.

    Indeed infusion is not a gamble. By far the most important thing is airtightness. Leaks should be tracked and solved before the actual infusion begins. The rest is just a matter of selecting the right materials, and putting them in the right place. Not so difficult, as soon as you understand the process.
     
  14. yves
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    yves Junior Member

    Yes I realize now that you have as much time as you want for preparation and checking leaks, and price wise considering all the consumable that you have to throw away vs less resin used, how does it compare ?
     

  15. Fram
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    Fram Junior Member

    Correct, and Arjen Korevaar was there too.

    However, there were some leaks we were not able to resolve so we made some extra spare vacuum ports in these areas (beam flanges). The end result was again perfect.

    So there are some tricks to get a good result when the starting point is not perfect.
     
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