hulls chopper gun or laid up cloth

[s vernon]

A question that is of great interest to many people, not just me.

Larry, how do you make a hull? Chopper gun or laid up?

Thank you.

Scott

[Larry Ludwig]

WHOA!!! Chopper gun... hehehehe... we could hold a dance on one made with a chopper. Those guns are awesome for mass producing FRP products... look at the ice chest on your real boat, or crawl under a table at MacDonalds... chances are you will see fibers going all over the place in a lot of directions... that would likely be chopper gun (although mat may look familiar as well) but normally anytime you have no weight limits, and require strength you pull out the gun.

Wet layups are much more efficient for weight control, but are considered ancient technology these days and most composite suppliers do not do them any more. Not to say that they are not used... they are and are still common, but when you start getting into aerospace you fill find them less and less.

If you do your research and get your layup schedule correct you can compete with more expensive light-weight methods to the point where the need for the more expensive proceedure becomes quite suspect[:0]

I have been working for a year to get my selection of materials where I want it and I am not there yet.[8]

Once you move into the higher end of composites, you get extreme results at extreme prices... but it takes more than the average shop can handle. Using an autoclave you need not even heat the pre-preg cloth because the enormous pressure creates it's own heat when the material is subjected to the fantastic pressure.

We are still very much in the learning phase here.

[s vernon]

Glad I could be of service to you as a straight man. humor. I thought of editing my post to say mat instead of chopper gun after I posted, but figured I would leave it.

So my question should have been all glass cloth or glass cloth and mat? Please say all glass cloth.

I suppose you will let us know when you are ready to start making and selling hulls.


Scott

[Larry Ludwig]

I use both mat and cloth, depending on the application. There are hundreds of types of cloth, and a fair selection of mat. Mat is *much* cheaper than an Aerospace grade cloth... so it is something that I am experimenting with to achieve a decent weight mat hull that would be less expensive for those individuals that want a stronger boat (mat being stronger) and are less interested in racing.

I keep a complete record of stats on each and every hull produced so I will always be able to go back and retrieve the build sheet from the data plate that is installed in every hull.

I am at present getting caught up on light-weight decks, while at the same time making boats available for sale as they are completed... but primarily I am waiting for the much anticipated arrival of the new mold....which when properly cured will begin an around the clock effort to produce hulls and get one out to everyone that wants one. [|)]

The light-weight pure race hulls are most assuredly all cloth, and very nice cloth indeed, you betcha....