Ed
Keep the boat porn up to date. When your finished and down this way she will look good at my dock. Plenty of room now.
I miss looking out and seeing mine. :(

Will do, Capt. Chuck. When it is finished, I will have to let you inspect it and see if it worthy of your gucci award.

We may be heading back down to "Del Boca Vista" in Stuart for a long weekend in March. Will keep you posted.

coming together. I like that console too. The coosa might be heavy, but its lighter than soaked plywood :)

Thank you for your business !

Below are some pictures of my first attempt at vacuum bagging. I had to keep my self entertained and my mind occupied while my snail paced hardtop project limps along...

First pic shows the original hatch decored and prepped.

Second pic shows a fresh layer of 1.5oz mat with tinted Raka epoxy.

Third pic shows the new Coosa core cut on 45 degree angles and all sharp edges rounded off.

Fourth pic shows the vacuum bagging in process. 1 layer of 1708 biaxial, a layer of peel ply, a layer of breather cloth and some 7 mil clear shrinkwrap. I used some expensive double sided tape from Home Depot to seal the bag. It worked pretty well.

Fifth pic shows the gauge (if i am reading it correctly) pulling 20 inches of mercury. Hopefully, I have some beginners luck. I have 4 more hatches to do over the next week or so.

Here is a picture of the finished hatch. Pretty happy with the results - it is super strong and lighter than the old plywood soaked hatch.

My only concern is the finished surface (1708 weave) may hold mold and mildew. I guess I can always fair and finish them next winter (who I am kidding!).

Looks good... The middle scale is inches of merc. The outer is Kpa or kilopascals... Or Korean peoples army...lol sorry . I use inches of merc,,, so looking at your scale it appears you got somewhere between 5-8 hg.. When bagging I found 20 is good at first then hold it at 15 till cure..the longer it takes though you risk having a dry bond laminate..you can tell with your bagging film there will be almost no voids or airpockets .. You can never have to much practice with vac bagging..Good luck

Thanks, Martin. I knew something was off.

When the valve is mostly closed and the bag is not tight, I was showing 20 inches of mercury. (See attached pic).

When the valve is mostly open, and the pump sucks the bag tight, I was showing 8 inches of mercury (the original picture).

None of this makes sense to me. The more I open the valve and the tighter the bag is sucked tight, the mercury should go up, not vise-versa correct? It seems to be doing the exact opposite for me...

Sounds like a small leak somewhere.. When I vac to 20" it is a chore to find the pin hole leaks.. Did you have bleeder holes in your foam..??

Yes, if you look closely....you can see a bunch of holes drilled in the coosa.

I will double check the bag more closely next time. Thanks for the tips.

Ed

Yea I see gem now.. Next time make sure you use a heavier plastic.. I use a 10mil and allow enough room for when the bag gets pulleddown.. Make gussets around the corners...you will know when you find the hole... It wil vac down in a few seconds hard ...I use duct tape to plug holes.