Re: 1/8" Divinycell

Posted by Dave Grainger on Dec 20, 2005

Fiberglass Supplies has 1/8" Divinycell. I found it easier to force into the compound curves I created. However, it is a much more complicated material to work with than plywood in that it will not hold it's shape until glassed on both sides. This requires temporary framing first on the boat to force the D'cell into the shape, then after the top surface is glassed, it requires temporary framing to maintain that shape while the deck is lifted off the hull and flipped over to glass the underside. The temp. frame on the hull was done by setting the fore and aft centerline carlins and cockpit beam where I wanted them, then hot gluing in crowned beams made of the 3mm deck plywood every foot from bow to stern. The temp. top frame was made by running strips of clear packing tape on the top of the glassed deck while the deck was still on the boat, sanding the tape lightly to allow hot glue to stick, and gluing on a frame made out of pieces of 1/4" X 3" cheap plywood, which were hot glued to the tape strips and to each other. This allowed removing the deck from the hull and flipping it over without losing any of the compound curvature I'd worked so hard to get. RE: performance - the D'cell deck is surprisingly rigid and light, and also surprisingly intolerant of point loads, especially aft of the cockpit where I was using the paddle shaft for stability during entry. I solved that problem by changing my entry style, and I now never put the paddle shaft on the deck during entry. The deck also received several cuts through the outer skin in the paddle strike area, hence the carbon fibre paddle strike protectors visible in the photos.


http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/Product_Catalog/Core_Materials/core_materials.html

In Response to: 1/8" Divinycell by howard on Dec 19, 2005

Replies:

  • by on
  • by on
  • by on