Stack of the Deck

The Stack of the Deck

The glassing of the deck and hull are considerably different from each other. The resin we used for the deck is APR and APH (the resin and hardener) and is mixed to a 1:4 ratio. This epoxy has a slower curing time which benefits us because we have a longer pot-life then the WEST Z205 resin we used for the hull. We could work longer on getting the glass and peel-ply down to work out the bubbles and creases created on the deck and everything else that is needed to vacuum. The stack for the deck is different from the stack for the hull. The stack for the hull was only EDB400 fiberglass (double-bias fiberglass with the directions of the fibers crossing at 45 degrees. The 400 is the weight of the cloth in grams per square meter) and the peel-ply with epoxy. The deck and the girders and floors needed to be vacuumed. To vacuum we stacked the layers in the following order: the deck is pre-saturated with resin to ensure all pores  are filled and the glass is laid on top of the deck and then the fiberglass is soaked in resin. The peel-ply is laid on top of the glass and ensures the glass is not contaminated and also helps with forming the glass and soaks up any excess resin. Perforated plastic is laid on top of the peel-ply cloth to ensure excess resin escapes through. Mesh is laid on top of the perforated plastic and it ensures that air flows through freely for all the air to escape to ensure a vacuum. The final layer is a big piece of plastic with no holes. Vacuum tape is thick and sticky tape that is put all around the edges of the deck for the seal. It is important to leave enough space between the wet glass and the tape because the tape won’t stick. There should be plenty of plastic when the plastic is stuck on the vacuum tape to eliminate spanning if the plastic is pulled down on the deck and we made enough “darts” to ensure spanning does not happen. It is ideal for the plastic to be sucked down and take form of the deck to ensure the glass is pressed down to the deck and in all corners and edges. The vacuum pipe is sealed inside the plastic. After the vacuum was turned on we sealed off any leaks or holes we could find by feeling or listening to ensure there is no air leaking into the bag. We had a gauge set up to see that there is indeed a vacuum.