: Hi,
: I am shortly to start building a couple of kayaks for racing/training - an
: Australian-designed TK1 by David Payne, and the Guillemot Mystery. So I'm
: looking to keep the weight low (compared to my C17 that has been
: over-engineered as normal in a first-time build!) - partly by using light
: glass (it won't be getting beached or used in rough conditions with heavy
: loads, just lakes/rivers).

: Another thought I had was vacuum-bagging the hull when 'glassing/epoxying it.
: Has anyone done this? Is it possible and how would/did you set it up?

: My thought was to lay the glass down, epoxy, then cover with plastic sheeting
: that was taped to the strongback. This should squeeze out any excess epoxy
: and let it drop down to the strongback so it won't pool on the boat.

: Any thoughts? I considered it as a friend has a new carbon-fibre kayak and
: when ordered, he could have gotten 2 - 3 kilograms (4-6lbs) weight
: reduction if they bagged it (but added $1000 to the cost!).

: Thanks,
: Darren
: Melbourne, Australia

Sure you can vacuum bag the hull. The resin though won't drip down as you mentioned, you'll need more than just a bag. You'll need a peel ply surface that allows the excess resin to be pulled thru it and allows the bagging stuff to not bond to the epoxy and and breather material to absorb the excess resin, the vacuum will draw the excess resin out of the laminate thru the peel ply and into the breather material.

There are a bunch of web sources of these materials as well as quite alot of info also on the web. FiberGlast is a good source of info and materials.

Bill H.