Working with Composites Archives | Page 7 of 12

Vacuum Bagging with Polyester Resin: A Practical Guide to Avoiding the Pitfalls

Topic Overview: This post details the specialized techniques required for successfully vacuum bagging components with polyester resin. We’ll cover fabric preparation, precise resin mixing, bagging strategies for complex shapes, and the crucial steps to prevent volatile boil-out that can ruin a laminate. Author: Shayne and Anna Vacuum bagging is the gold standard for creating high-quality, consolidated composite […]

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Resilience & Routine: Working Through Valencia’s Historic Floods

A Week of Many Jobs — and a Flood We Couldn’t Ignore Living on a boat means the weather isn’t background noise. It’s the thing that decides whether today’s plan actually happens. Partway through this week, Valencia was hit by DANA — a catastrophic flash flood that meteorologists called one of the most intense the

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Composite Door Installation, Flow Coat Application, and Steering System Analysis

Author: Shayne and Anna Topic: This post details the ongoing refit of the starboard stateroom, focusing on the practical installation of a composite door and the application of flow coat as a substrate for insulation. It provides a technical analysis of chronic hydraulic steering failures, evaluating the components beyond repair and outlining the engineering rationale for a

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Project Flow: From America’s Cup to Mini Maxi Refits & Gunboats

Author: Shayne and Anna Key Topic: In the natural flow of professional marine work, we’ve transitioned from an America’s Cup campaign to a mini maxi refit and Gunboat management, while continuously balancing client projects with life aboard our own catamaran Paikea. In the world of professional sailing and boat building, projects have a natural rhythm—one finishes,

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Repairing the Starboard Hull: Paikea’s Crack Fix in Barcelona

Repairing the Starboard Hull: Paikea’s Crack Fix in Barcelona With the hull crack confirmed and the extent of it clear, it was time to actually fix it — and, as it turned out, a genuinely full family day on the hard. Splitting the Work The crack ran from the stateroom all the way in under

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Building Carbon Fibre Chainplates: Part Three — The Starboard Side

Building Carbon Fibre Chainplates: Part Three — The Starboard Side The rudder project running through this same stretch of time wasn’t happening in isolation — there was a lot going on aboard Paikea at once, and this starboard chainplate rebuild was one of several things competing for attention in the same tight window. It’s worth

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