John
Thanks for the tips…
My project is a F14 hull 4.3m long (14’-1 5/16”). I would have loved to use carbon for the inner and outer skin but because of budgetary restraints I have purchased Kevlar for the inner skin and S2 glass for the outer skin. My hope is to have it similar to weight to an A cat hull but have it able to take a bit more off/on the water punishment. As I said in the above post I had originally intended to do a full female mold as I prefer to Vacuum bag Kevlar over traditional hand lay up, hopefully I won’t have too high a resin to fiber ratio…I remember from past use that Kevlar has a tendency to “float” when it’s not bagged down.

I did pick up on the fact on the LR2/LR3 site that you spaced your frames on 6” centers, and I was concerned about spacing them 12” on center… but then I saw that Racer-X’s blog where he was using your build method but spaced his out to 14”on center with what he said was no ill effect.

I hear what you are saying about squeegeing out the inner skin with too little support…but correct me if I am wrong…the foam will deform when pressure is applied but it will spring back to shape when the squeegee pressure is released. My idea would be to wet it out from the back (foam) and the front…use moderate squeegee pressure to insure complete wet out and then go back and using a light touch, squeegee any wrinkles out that might have been created by the foam deflecting under the initial squeegee pressure.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of having the frames cut by CNC…each one was scribed, cut and fitted painstakingly by hand with 3mm ply and then transferred over to 1/2'” and/or ¾” ply for the actual frame… which was also cut, sanded and checked for fit to insure accuracy. I just finished the creation of all the actual jig frame/stations yesterday and while I have anticipated adding a few extra frames at the bow where the curve is the most sensitive “if it proves necessary”, I was hoping not to have to go threw the whole process with an additional 28 individual pieces. It’s like being a kid in school and all week you think you are going to get out at noon time on Friday…as you sit there anticipating it for the last moments your teacher tells you at 11:45am that you are going to have to stay the whole day…LOL

Whether or not the fact that my hulls will be split on the centerline, rather than a top and bottom half, may diminish the effect (easier access to all areas of the laminate) or exacerbate it (less curve in the part being glassed) would not be revealed until I get to that point in the process.

Thank you again for your insight and your generosity in sharing your experience.

Best Regards,
Bob