Skip, I'll add one more comment about trying to go lightweight. I would recommend looking at a few of the sailboat amateur boat building sights, including F-boat.com. Foam sandwich seems to be about the lightest weight you can build. While carbon fiber is strong, the limiting factor has always been the foam density. Yes, you can buy different grades, but if you are just going to go down to your local Home Depot, that foam will work and be plenty strong enough. I have built a hatch cover for my old sailboat from some super thin cheap fiberglass sheeting from Lowes. Even though the fiberglass is super thin and only one layer, once built, a 2X3 section I could jump up and down on, without it breaking. The most difficult aspect of premade sheeting is what to trim the edges out with. I used aluminum, which added a lot of weight. If you are making the fiberglass sheets yourself, the technique used is to frame up from the back side and then lay the foam on lat board. Fiberglass the top side, and then remove the foam from the board and fiberglass the other side. One thing you got to be careful of is the epoxy will attach the foam. Again some more reading on West System will help.
_________________ Dave
The Flying Fortress '83 Revcon Prince 31' FWD 502 w/Howell/GM 16197427 ECM/Edelbrock MPFI,Thorley's & Magnaflows, 4L85E 4 speed, KoniFSD, Yes it is SOLD
FMCA F298817
|