Hi,

I am pondering a new boat build which will, in all eventuality, comprise making the hulls (it's a catamaran), foils, beams and maybe even a mast. I am pretty impressed with the Easy-preg option for an off the mould finish, ready for paint directly - I don't want the weight penalty of a gel coat if possible. The hulls would be a Nomex sandwich and I assume that this would be OK with a 215 gsm vari-preg layer (don't want to go to the 430 or would the experts recommend a resin layer? If so, where do I get this as there is nothing on the Easy Composites site that looks like it fits the bill. I'd like to work on a single vacuum / over cure rather than doing curing the layers individually.

My second train of thought is how to incorporate UD layers in the vari-preg system. The cat's beams, foils and mast will be a UD dominated laminate, so I will need to work this out! Again, is there sufficient resin within the vari-preg backing layer to co-infuse UD layers, or again will a resin layer be required?

Got to build an oven of course, but I'd like to get the construction resolved in my head at least.

Thanks for the great tutorials.

Cheers

Andy

That's the wonderful thing about free speech & open forums - everyone can express an opinion!

I know that I could always use the Gruit pre-preg system that has surfacing films, UDs and core adhesive layers, but these are all additional steps in the process. The EC system suggests that some of these steps could be eliminated, although the range of reinforcements is limited.

You could get away with a single thin layer with a closed cell foam as it won't collapse so much if damaged, it will dent and still provide some strength whereas a honeycomb would collapse and not provide any strength after impact.

Sorry if I didn't express myself well, I wasn't doubting your skills its just that I dont really see the point of using prepreg on bigger parts like boats and so on...