Wet Foam Sandwich Blues

[CarlF]

Jamestown Distributors in RI has a lot of boat building supplies and will ship to Canada. They stock CPES and also "Vacuum Breather Fabric" which goes under the plastic to allow the air to flow in vacuum bagging. However, almost any loose woven cloth will accomplish that purpose.

Carl

[Extemporaneous]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Jamestown Distributors in RI has a lot of boat building supplies and will ship to Canada. They stock CPES and also "Vacuum Breather Fabric" which goes under the plastic to allow the air to flow in vacuum bagging. However, almost any loose woven cloth will accomplish that purpose.

Carl

Thank-You

[44'cruisingcat]

A mate of mine uses shade cloth for the same purpose.

[alleycat]

Ex,

I discussed my problems with my local resin and glass suppliers, and they offered to lend me a vacuum pump they use. I think that should work great. Drill a matrix of holes on the inner skin, use some garden fleece (44's 'shade cloth'?) under the plastic, and pump till no more water is collected.

I have dug into some of the areas that showed up wet with the meter, and it is not anywhere near as bad as I feared. The dampness is slight, the foam is fine, and the glass well bonded to it. I found just one area where the glass was mushy, about a square foot, and that was just the top 2-3 mm. Under that, the glass was dry and solid. I guess that was an area where the glass wasn't wetted out properly, and then water got in.

I'm going to do a bit of sailing this summer, then get the boat under cover for the winter, and do a refit of all deck and hull fittings, and apply the pump where needed. That should do it.