Now I found a youtube clip where they make use of the arrangement of the infusion that I was going to use.

They add a spiral tube around the hole boat that distributes vacuum suction and then puts a resin distribution tube in the bottom of the mold.
I want to really make this work, otherwise I'm gonna destroy quite a lot of material! =)

So, my only question now, will the vacuumpump ECVP425 for 169,95 exl. VAT be enough for the job, I really hope so because that's the only one I can afford!

FLD, so good to hear your tips and tricks!

Yes, it is joining the hull to deck as I am concerned, especially when my design, surfski, are a closed design so I will not have access to the inside!
But, I've looked a lot on different  core materials after what you wrote earlier and found "Soric" which is a core material apparently withstand vacuum infusion without compressing and it has channels that distribute the resin in a good way. You do not even use the infusion mesh if you use Soric, sounds really good for my project!

It is a pain to join deck to hull.  Most common method I've seen is to gaffer tape the two halves together and make the inside join then remove the tape and make the outside join.  Its common for 6 or more layers of kevlar tape to be used on the seams.  You will have to poke the tape down with a stick and use a brush taped to a pole to apply the resin.  Not easy!

WRT weight I believe the lightest core material would be PVC foam but this may be awkward to use with infusion.  You can either infuse one skin, bond in the foam then infuse the next skin OR drill lots of holes all over the foam and infuse in one go. 

It might be worth looking out for a local slalom event and going along to look at boats.  Get a good idea of what you want to make yours from before you spend out.

OK, I realized that I have only paddled "regular" kayaks and no surfski's and these have rarely been out of the sandwich construction is. But I agree emd you, it's obvious stronger. The question is how much weight increases, I have seen that the Easy Composites has different core materials.
Something I'm a little worried about is exactly how I'm going in a good way to get together and decks. It becomes extremely thin edges to be joined. It will be that much easier with a sandwich kostruktion!

Reinforcing a join on both sides is always strongest.

That infusion video seems massively over complicated for a simple bonnet!! They could have used one resin feed and one vacuum feed.

It does show how you can control where the resin goes by having multiple feeds though, however it is uneccesary on that part.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

I've paddled for years and sandwich constructed boats are FAR more rigid than a non cored boat.  The downside is that they are harder to repair if you bash one.  As far as reinforcement type I've had boats made from everything from spread tow cloth to diolen.  Ultimately carbon will be more rigid but carbon kevlar will give you a little more durability.  My last boat was carbon/foam/carbon-kevlar. 

Thanks for all your tips a ideas!

Great to know approximately how thick kayaks are, because it's one of my major concerns.

Concerning the choice of the type of fabric, I guess they are plain CF is best for kayaking, or am I wrong? Could it be good to use Kevlar / carbon hull to get a little more durable hull?

Interesting what you write on the planning of the infusion Warren. I looked at this video,
,
and where they seem to use the spiral tube to distribute the vacuum around and then add resin spiral tube in the middle and spread it on three different sites. Do you think it will work? It feels like it should be the most evenly around the entire canoe.

So, FLD, you believe in a sandwich construction. I've been thinking along those lines but most kayaks of this sort are not built with sandwich construction.

Now I'm planning the orders from composites easy! I'm really looking forward to get started!

Go and have a browse of double dutch and vajda kayaks.  Yes, I know they are slalom boats but have a read at the construction lay-ups.  Might also be worth looking at murky water and angst kayaks.  These are squirt so are a heavy construction but will detail the seams.  Typically for a boat like you are suggesting a single layer of 600g followed by 4mm PVC foam and then 2x200g layers will give a nice light rigid boat.  Seams are typically 4-6 layers of kevlar tape.  The very ends of squirt boats have an 'end pour' as the ends are inaccessable.  This is a mix of chopped ends and resin poured in to seal the ends.  Shouldn't be needed for a surf boat though.  Hope this helps?

Warren-
for the hull joining, is it done on the inside seam and the outside seams with tapes and resin?

just for my own info. i cant recall all of the video i saw way back when. to me it makes sense to make the tapes and resin on both sides
of the joint


thanks


scott

CarbonFiberCreations