Keel Odyssey 4 - The Sleeve

I am so happy tonight you guys have no idea!

Last night I laminated the sleeve on my recently finished keel. That is a delicate step of the building process but the end result was all worth it : I am now the proud owner of a beautiful keel and a perfectly fitted composite sleeve !

Check it out.

This is the layup I used:

1-first layer of plastic film to protect the finished keel from resin. Ben used a vapor barrier plastic film for laying down wooden floors. I could not get the stuff here in Turkey but found a rather thick plastic film that looked just fine. And indeed it worked great.

2-thin (0,5 -1,0) foam film to create a thin space between the keel and sleeve and avoid any problem since I still have to put at least another layer of Brightside on the keel. This foam is used in kitchen drawers. Bought it at my local supermarket. That is the colourfull green stuff on the pictures.

3-another layer of plastic film to make sure the epoxied cloth would not glue to the foam.

4-1st fiber layer = 6 ounce fiberglass

5-2nd fiber layer= heavy aramid cloth

6-3rd fiber layer= 6 ounce fiberglass

7-4th layer= heavy carbon fiber mainly for the looks.

8-final plastic layer on top of carbon for enhanced post cure looks

Again I really used my squeege against that plastic film to fully wet out the fibers and drain all that excess resin out.

The final product is really thin, light, stiff and pretty good looking. And the best of all is that it came out so easily of the keel. I had no issue whatsoever. The plastic film worked wonders and as soon as I pulled on it, the sleeve came out. What a relief...! You guys who have been through it know what I am talking about.......and future builders will sooner or later understand my comments.

That was indeed a keel Odyssey.............but I can!t wait for the next challenge.

And as my fellow builder Josh 'the Shazza' says, "bring it on big fellow !!!"