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Fiberglass 101, Vacuum Bagging Part 2: Bagging
Text and photos by Barry C. Forrest.
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Prepare the bagging material and work area. You'll want the outer bag and release film big enough to allow it to contour to the parts. Cut your outer bag material to the desired size. Cut a piece of release film the same size but about 1" smaller than the outer bag on all sides. (I made my outer bag and release film big enough to fold over so I only had to seal 3 sides). Cut the breather material to the same size as the release film (If folding the release film, cut the breather to 1/2 size. You only need it on the top of the release film).
This is the layer setup top to bottom: Outer bag, breather, release film, workpiece, release film, outer bag. |
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| Put on your gloves and respirator, mix up your resin, and brush on. |
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| Here is the fin with resin and fiberglass on the bottom only, in place, on the release film and outer bag. |
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| All four fins with fiberglass ready for top layers of bag setup to be laid over and sealed. |
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| Bag is sealed and ready for vacuum to be applied. Make sure you put in the connector before sealing! |
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| Closeup of fin with 22" of vacuum applied. |
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| Closeup of excess resin being drawn away from the fin. |
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| Underside of fin after about 20 minutes with vacuum applied. |
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| After 2 hours under vacuum and using west systems fast hardener, I was curious to see how it turned out. I removed the bag and breather material, and carefully pulled the release film off. |
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| I let it sit on wax paper for 1 hour. |
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| Here are the results. |
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| Note the perfect joining of the ends even with a square end. |
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| Let it sit for 24 hours to cure fully. Trim the excess and prep for primer. | |