Expedition Engineering · video

What this video covers

The owners of a 2008 Veneto 49 sailboat are fabricating custom dinghy davits using a composite sandwich of closed-cell foam, carbon fiber, and epoxy.0:18 To avoid metal fabrication, they designed a curved structure to replace a previous, overly flexible prototype.2:28 The process involves a vacuum-bagging technique using red vacuum bag film, breather cloth, perforated release film, and peel ply.22:04 The team encountered issues with brittle epoxy, which the manufacturer, Easy Composites, attributed to excessive heat buildup during an exothermic reaction in a thick test batch rather than a defect in the resin.18:54 They also experienced a vacuum pump leak, which was identified as normal air bubbles in the sight glass during operation.11:29 After refining their layup process to include simultaneous application of carbon fiber on both sides of the foam, they successfully produced a curved structural component.20:49 The project remains ongoing, with future plans to address electrical systems, including batteries and an alternator regulator.27:31

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