Conor, Hi, I laid the Carbon on by hand, which , yeah, I know, is not the perfect way to do it, but it has seemed to have worked OK. There's a number of advantages to doing this AFAIK. Panatellas decks were in a bit of a state, which left me with the options of either trying to strip them, revarnish etc. etc. with the knowledge that they would still be stained/grotty/watermarked when I'd finished, OR redeck completely, which looked like mega work, mega skill level, hefty cost and long time. Taking the quick n dirty route, I decided to carbon sheath it. Yes it adds extra weight, but it sure is a shedload stiffer, and it's tied together the gunnels, inwhales/carlins and decks, all of which were starting to sail in formation, rather than actually being joined together. Stripping decks of old varnish suddenly gets really easy when you're using a belt sander with 60 grade set to high speed! Then paint decks with neat epoxy, allow to go off for about 16-20 hours, then coat again. Allow to start to go tacky, then smooth on 200g woven carbon fabric. Then squeegee on more epoxy. Don't brush on, otherwise it adds too much weight. Lots of useful tips on the Cherub site on how to get smooth overlaps etc. Consider painting it a pale colour-black decks burn your arse!
Posted: 24/08/2005 16:25:21 By: BmaxRog |