Hey all

I'm designing a hard top dodger for my catamaran see a href="http://
www.psychosnail.com/blog/post/Building-a-hard-Bimini-hard-Dodger.aspx"Hard
dodger/a

Was wondering if any of you have experience working with Last-A-Foam
as a core using hand lay up?
Is this a good material for hand layup, any gotchas or
recommendations?

Thanks!

Sorry the link didn't work. not sure how to get it working on this
forum.
Here's a plain version
http://www.psychosnail.com/blog/post...rd-Dodger.aspx

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:37:24 -0700 (PDT), ryanonthebeach
wrote:

Hey all

I'm designing a hard top dodger for my catamaran see a href="http://
www.psychosnail.com/blog/post/Building-a-hard-Bimini-hard-Dodger.aspx"Hard
dodger/a

Was wondering if any of you have experience working with Last-A-Foam
as a core using hand lay up?
Is this a good material for hand layup, any gotchas or
recommendations?

Thanks!

There is a "fiberglass guy" here who has built/is building hard
bimini's for two Cats using some sort of foam sandwich construction.
the current job nearly finished on a Prout 30-something footer.

I know the guy pretty well and can relay any questions you may have to
him. I'm sure that he is willing to pass on information.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

That would be great, thanks Bruce.

My questions would be for the Prout (which is about the same size)
For the supports and frame (beams), what core and skin thickness did
he use?
and type of foam core (divinycell, last-a-foam etc.)?
Did he use hand lay up or vacuum bag?

Much appreciated!

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:14:09 -0700 (PDT), ryanonthebeach
wrote:

That would be great, thanks Bruce.

My questions would be for the Prout (which is about the same size)
For the supports and frame (beams), what core and skin thickness did
he use?
and type of foam core (divinycell, last-a-foam etc.)?
Did he use hand lay up or vacuum bag?

Much appreciated!

The "bimini" is built from 15 mm 90 Kg. divinycell foam with two
layers of bi-axial, 600 gm., glass on both the inside and outside.
Radiused surfaces were made by slitting the foam, forming and then
filling with epoxy filler and sanding smooth before the glass was
applied. In any areas where taping was necessary a rebate was ground
to take the tape, which would have been 600 gm. All work was done with
epoxy. There were raised "frames made where the ports will be
installed to provide a flat surface for the port to bed onto the
curved forward wall of the structure.

The structure extends approximately 3 feet forward of the rear
bulkhead (where the "door" is located) with three ports in the forward
portion. The sides are solid and extend back to approximately the
existing cockpit sides and the solid top then extends to the rear of
the cockpit. There are two stainless supporting posts at the rear edge
of the top as apparently it is necessary to stand on top of the
structure when working on the boom.

When finished there will be a Sunbrella curtain that can be attached
to the bimini to completely enclose the cockpit.

The glass cloth was applied by hand. On a structure like this there is
little reason to use vacuum bagging as there would be little savings
in weight. In addition hand layup was much simpler to work with.

From talking to both the owner and the "fiberglass guy" the reason for
using foam was primarily to have a media that is easy to work with and
doesn't rot.
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

Awesome, thanks a million Bruce! This helps enormously, I've been
scratching my head over the materials this for a month.
The Mexican shipwrights here (Ensenada) are great, but me, not so much
with Spanish, so trying to come to the above has been a long fruitless
game of hand signals.
Have fun in Thailand, you can't not.

Ryan