Hand lay up or vacuum
 

So I've been wondering what's used in the modern industryuses as far as the laminate construction of boats is hand lay up still used or has all of the performance industry switched to vacuum bagging or are they past that on starting to use vacuum infusion.
Thanks for any input kile

Vacuum Bagging can make a Stronger bond of all the materials but also infuses more resin creating more weight. A good hand laid boat where they took the time to squeegee out the extra resin will be lighter but the bond of all the layers won't be as tight, Which is okay, they have made successful boats that way for a long long time.

its a mix of everything across the board and for whats worth a majority are still layed up by hand. Theres nothing wrong with a well balanced skilled layup. Some of the limited production custom guys (Skater, OL, MTI, etc) use some bagging and infusion with great success but anyone doing production numbers is most likely stuck to wet layup methods because of workforce constraints. It is very tough to train and then get them to properly implement new methods.

I think you may have incorrect information. Generally speaking, a vacuum bagged boat weighs significantly less than a non-vacuum bagged boat. That's one of the reasons many high end manufacturers use the process. And yes, it's fairly expensive, so most "production" manufacturers do not use it.

Too Stroked is correct. A properly bagged hand layup will be light and strong.
Now, ask a builder if they Vacuum bag, and they'll say they do...but they may only be doing a part of the process... Most do not bag the entire laminate and just bag the core to the outer laminates, many times after the outer laminates are cured, or very near cured. They bag the core on in hopes of not having the core release from the outer laminates. Epoxy resin kicks slower, which usually offers enough time to properly bag the entire laminate of a section... (Thats what we do at MTI)

No, I Built Boats Most of my Life, I was around when Vacuum Bagging was first invented and know how it works :)

I agree a Vacuumed panel will be stiffer than a Non bagged panel, But if you take the time to properly squeegee out the extra resin in a hand laid panel you'll get rid of a bunch of the excess resin (which is the bulk of the weight of a glass boat) Does 8 gal resin weigh less than 5 gal????

yea what he said. theres way way way more to it that just adding a bag and vacuum. almost everything changes between these types of processes. the glass, resin and core and along with added expense in materials you have different skill levels of the workers.

as cool or as high tech skater or mystic is compared to say searay some of the sailboat guys are far beyond them. the high end sailboat guys are really where most the technology is taking place.

Thats for the Info do you guys use mostly balsa core or foam cores?
And what resin percent do you use in your hand work?

Right... Resin needs to be properly squeegeed to remove the bulk of extra resin... Before proper bagging.