Now working on boat #4 and I thought I’d provide a bit of a glimpse as to what it takes to setup the vacuum bag for infusion. Take a look at this time-lapsed video…
The fiberglass and foam are already laid into the mold as is a few strips of peel ply to lay the flow media onto. I start with attaching split-tubing (wrapped in peel ply) around the edge of the mold. I’m then attaching T-fittings to the tubing where the air gets sucked from. Then comes the flow media onto the peel ply in the boat and T-Fittings where the resin will be pulled into. The flow media helps the resin distribute through-out the boat while under the pressure of the vacuum bag.
Next comes laying the bagging material over the whole thing and creating a air-tight seal between the bag and the mold. Yes, this takes time and is quite prone to leaking air when first applied. Lastly I attach the tubes to the T-fittings through the bag. What’s not shown is the process of turning on the vacuum pump and finding all the little leaks in the bag – ugh!
You can see photos of boat #1 setup and the infusion video at the bottom of the page.