Carbon Fiber Bodywork

Junction, TX happened to me. Its crazy. 5 minutes from I-10 and you can't even get the internet on my cell phone which gets the internet anywhere. I have a few good pictures of the vacation which I will post for you guys.

Fair enough, the pics should be interesting, hope you had a good time

So, back to my mold. After spending a couple hours and going through a few sheets of 1500 grit sandpaper, I was rewarded with this:

It turns out it's a PITA to get into those tight little corners with sandpaper and removed all the primer. I might need to hire an asian girl with tiny hands to sand those spots :laugh: The sanding opened up the surface of the mold a little more, exposing some more pinholes as well as revealing two larger defects

One was just a small "chip" in the gelcoat at first, but when I tried to open it up a bit with a razor blade, a much larger area revealed itself to be compromised

This is located on the curve at the bottom of the sidecover

The other defect was located in the top rear corner of the sidecover

I used a razor blade to trim back the thin gelcoat until the defect areas were surrounded by thicker, solid gelcoat. I'll patch these tomorrow, along with the other smaller pinholes. Those of you familiar with autobody work know that once you're done sanding body filler, it's not uncommon to have pinholes left that need to be filled. I was taught to open up the pinholes with a razor so that they were cone shaped holes, making them easier to fill. I tried to do this with these pinholes, but the gelcoat it a bit too hard and brittle, so I just picked at them to open 'em up a bit more. Should do the trick ok. This is a good illustration of the benefits of spraying multiple coats of gelcoat, allowing each coat to set up before recoating. These defects are a reminder of my impatience, and are adding a considerable amount of time to prepping the mold. Don't make the same mistakes I did

I was a little stressed about how I was going to flange the mold, but I figured it out. I'll use expanding foam and make a line on some wax paper. Once is dries, I'll cut it into small sections 1"-1.5", then trim it into rectangular blocks. Those will be my forms. I'll prep the outside of the mold with a quick blast on the angle grinder and pre cut strips of glass cloth corresponding to the blocks. I'll then saturate the cloth and wrap it around the foam blocks and stick it to to outside edge of the mold. Then I have a perimeter flange :woohoo:

So, the expanding foam block idea sounded really good in my head, but when I went to do it, it seemed like alot more work than was necessary. I thought "why not just apply the foam to the mold, then trim off the excess, then lay fiberglass over that?" So thats what I did

Now I just need to wait a bit for it to set up, then start trimming and smoothing

Looking good, but that last photo somehow makes me hungry for a deep dish pizza with a stuffed crust.

Yeah, I'm from Chicago. :laugh:

Mmmmmmm, deep dish stuffed crust. I've never had it, but it sounds intoxicating. ..... throw in a pitcher a brew and it's the perfect meal! :laugh:

testarossa wrote:

Adam, count me in as a follower. I have just been out of internet range for a few days. More on that later. I'll post a travelogue in chit chat. Excellent thread, and as I predicted, we are all learning. Makes me wonder what all these guys who build CF boat hulls and vacuum bag 'em must go through. Keep up the good work.

www.dragboatcity.com/boats-sale/Dante%20Cole%20Molds%20.html now youve got me thinking! :woohoo:

I have been wanting to build a boat for a while now. That will have to wait. Plum, that hull would definitely add some excitement to your life.

Adam, I was thinking that particular picture looked like an attempt at cake baking gone horribly wrong. :laugh:

id be mass producing them,500lb hull 1000hp BB chevy sounds like a good power/weight ratio to me!

I know where I would take one of those to run it:

we can all make the pilgramage to omr's backyard in november to see the nationals in chandler az