Re: Bulkheads In or Out?

Posted by Laszlo on Mar 28, 2005

Hi Matt,

Before the tape is wet, before you cut it off the roll, find the place where you're going to cut it. At that point, put a piece of tape along the cut line, across the width of the tape. The tape should cover the line where you are going to cut, with the cutting line centered under the tape. This way when you cut along the original line, each piece of tape will have a 1/2 width of tape along the cut. This will immobilize the fibers and keep the tape from unravelling. The tape and its 2 long edges are unaffected, only the ends where you cut it from the roll will have the tape on them.

I use a variation of what you're talking about with the plastic. I wet the tape out on a layer of plastic, just as you say, but I peel it off the plastic before I put it in the boat. The reason I do this is to completely wet the tape out before it goes into the boat. The plastic is to protect the workbench. By doing this wetout outside the boat, you don't have to worry about messing up the seams, or having poorly wet-out glass in the hull. If for some reason the glass does not wet out properly, it can be discarded before it ever gets near the boat.

The technique that you describe could have some problems in a CLC kayak since it curves in multiple directions. Getting the plastic to sit smoothly on the seam could be very difficult.

Hope this helps,

Laszlo

In Response to: Re: Bulkheads In or Out? by Matt Croce on Mar 26, 2005

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