Emergency Lamination: Fixing Paikea’s Solar Arch Before Shayne Leaves
Antigua, weeks out from hurricane season, and Shayne’s just been asked to help deliver a Gunboat 68 from the Caribbean to France. Paikea stays put — Anna and the kids will be aboard her the whole time he’s away. Before he leaves, one job that’s been sitting on the “to do” list for far too long needed finishing: properly laminating the joints on Paikea’s carbon solar panel bracket, built back in Cadiz.
Why the Joints Were Never Finished
The bracket went together under real time pressure in Cadiz — see how the frame first came together here. There wasn’t time to laminate the joints properly then, so they were glued instead, using Spabond, a rubber-toughened epoxy — a reasonable stopgap, but never the finished job. Laminating over those joints was always the next step. Time and shifting priorities kept pushing it back, and with Shayne about to be away for weeks, it couldn’t wait any longer — not with Anna and the kids needing a boat that’s genuinely sound while he’s gone.
Laminating in the Heat
Carbon double bias cloth went over the join, working in Caribbean heat hot enough that the resin was curing while filming was still happening — not the working window you’d choose, but the one available.
Without a vacuum pump on hand, black electrical tape did the consolidation work instead — pulled tight, it squeezes the laminate down cleanly, and it’s a genuinely solid trick for small jobs like this one where proper vacuum equipment isn’t practical to set up. The colour isn’t incidental either: black tape in direct sun heats the repair well past ambient, and since this resin cures at room temperature, that extra heat pushes the post-cure heat distortion temperature higher than it would reach otherwise.
A Second Problem, Caught in Time
Working on the bracket surfaced something else worth addressing before it became serious: fizzing between the carbon fibre and the aluminium solar panel frame — carbon and aluminium don’t get along, and left alone, that reaction would eventually destroy the aluminium frame. The fix is simple: a few cable ties around the carbon bracket, lifting the panels clear of the carbon frame so the two materials stop touching.
What’s Left
The repair is structural, not finished — a proper finishing cover laminate and fairing pass are still owed once there’s time to come back to it. For now, it’s enough to know Paikea is sound while Shayne’s away delivering someone else’s boat across the Atlantic. All that’s left is recovering from the flu before those Gunboat guys in France start wondering where he’s got to.g cover laminate and fairing pass are still owed once there’s time to come back to it. For now, it’s enough to know the boat can move safely while Shayne’s away. All that’s left is recovering from the flu before those Gunboat guys in France start wondering where he’s got to.
Building on a rushed job from Cadiz — see Making a Solar Bracket and Leaving Cadiz for how this bracket first came together under pressure.
For more real-world composite technique — including working without a vacuum pump — visit our Working with Composites hub.