Ghetto Bagging

[amitchell]

So I broke my pole (and hood) in an unfortunate incident at the boat ramp. Throttle cable was in the wrong hole on the throttle drum, it was one spot advanced. So I had a bit of throttle when I started it up. I was standing beside the ski and it decide it wanted to hop up onto the cement pier and between some metal railings beside the boat launch. and somewhat defeated.



So I am going to buy an Xmetal pole when the tax man pays me. But in the mean time I want to ride.

Onwards with the repair. Ground out and flared. Template made with tape. I epoxied in 3 layers of 17oz biax to get a close match to stock thickness.



I also broke the lower bracket trying to straighten it out . I think it was already cracked from the incident. I Dremeled the broken face and got a nice smooth finish. Hopefully avoiding a crack in the future. I sanded the inside with 80 grit and cleaned well with acetone. Then I sanded in some west systems epoxy to get a nice bite into the epoxy and avoid oxidation. I added some filler to the remaining epoxy and pounded the bracket home.

I made sure to install the pole on the ski with the hood in place to make sure it was straight. I then added rivets and cleaned up the excess resin.

I filled in the missing bracket area with 3 layers of 17oz biax. When that set up I wrapped the top and bottom bracket with tape and saran wrap.



I wasn't able to find release film locally, so taking a cue from the model airplane guys I did this.



Yeah thats a garbage bag and a piece of wood with finishing nails.

 

[amitchell]

I needed some peel ply, so I went to Fabricland and got some 100% Rayon dress lining. Someone said that worked. I also picked up some polyester quilt batting.



I sanded and cleaned the pole and about an inch of the lower bracket. I made sure to sand and key in some epoxy to the bracket and get a tack layer on the pole.



While that was tacking up I started to wet out my carbon fibre. Two layers of 5.7oz something or other.

I applied to the pole and overlapped on the rear because who cares what that looks like. I also overlapped the brackets pretty far hoping I can cut the carbon to the right length afterwards .



My hands were sticky here so I missed a few shots but I layed in the following order.

Carbon - Rayon - Perforated Garbage Bag - Polyester Quilt Batting



Now here comes the best part. My Mother in Law is on the other side of the country so I borrowed her Foodsaver and got some big pleated bags. Hopefully she doesn't find out




It sucked down pretty good.



Excess Resin starting to draw out through those holes I poked in the garbage bag.



And now I wait for this to cure. Tomorrow I will pull from the bag and hope the Rayon is not part of the layup.

 

[Brian_216]

I'm impressed. Talk about macgyver skills!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[Mdavies_02]

Where is the finished product. Looks genius.

 

[amitchell]

Where is the finished product. Looks genius.

Its marinating in my sauna of an attic. I will pull it tomorrow and post pics.

 

[speedysprocket]

I'm curious about how this worked as well. Why the Rayon? Why the holy garbage bag on top of it?
The site I found suggested nylon dress liner from walmart and the high loft quilt filling. I used those two and it did not peel right off... And I can't seem to find any other nylon fabric.

 

[Brian_216]

Joann fabric. We buy ours there and it releases from epoxy just fine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[hink320]

I'm curious about how this worked as well. Why the Rayon? Why the holy garbage bag on top of it?
The site I found suggested nylon dress liner from walmart and the high loft quilt filling. I used those two and it did not peel right off... And I can't seem to find any other nylon fabric.

Why don't you just buy real peel ply and breather fabric from a composite supply shop?

 

[amitchell]

I don't think the vacuum was quite strong enough. The carbon was sucked nice and tight, but the excess resin mainly stayed between the rayon and garbage bag. This made it difficult to pull the rayon in a nice continuous piece.



The milky stuff is the Rayon. The textured matte color is what is left when you pull the Rayon.

I did some sanding then did a wet coat of epoxy, then wet sanded to 600 to prep for clear coat.



I also trimmed the excess at the ends. Not that straight on the bottom.



I would try again with a better vacuum pump and actual breather and peel ply. But for this pole I think it will be adequate.

 

[amitchell]

I also fixed my hood up. I had to pull the liner out and create another one. I closed off the front breathers and made the rear ones bigger. Peeled the paint off with a heat gun and wet sanded to 320 for epoxy primer.

 

[speedysprocket]

So what is Rayon and where do you get it? Do you think the garbage bag was necessary to have inbetween?