Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Frames Done

Last night, I got the sailing frames filleted and taped. I used a technique I read about in this book, and it worked great. I started by pre-cutting 24 small sections of kevlar "tape" cut out of my leftover kevlar. Each small section was cut to fit a specific joint. Small section of 4-mil plastic (just larger than the kevlar bits) were also pre-cut. Then I applyed a thick bead of thickened epoxy to the joint between frame and hull, then smoothed it down with my finger. After all joints were filleted, I mixed up some unthickened epoxy and wet out the sections of kevlar tape, which were resting on the small pieces of plastic. Once wet out, I picked up the tape + plastic, and pressed it into the joint. All I had to do was work out the air bubbles a little, then move on to the next. The whole operation took little more than an hour. This morning, I pulled all the plastic bits off leaving perfectly filleted and smooth joints. Awesome! I'll post a picture soon.

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