3 ms·
I grew up dinghy sailing in Maine and some of the more affluent kids would have carbon fibre parts on their dinghies. I remember going to one of the shipyards
by agentgt 10y ago
I grew up dinghy sailing in Maine and some of the more affluent kids would have carbon fibre parts on their dinghies.
I remember going to one of the shipyards (I think Vanguard... I can't recall) and watching them make carbon fibre parts. I was rather shocked how labor intensive it is. Maybe not labor intensive is the right word but it just takes a long time to make a single pole or mast.
If I recall you take long sheets of carbon fibre and wrap around a mold and wait a little bit and then cure it. You have to do this like 40 times.
I am probably missing a bunch of details as I was fairly young but I do remember it takes a long time to make carbon fibre parts.
So even if carbon fibre is produced at scale the molding and producing of actual parts probably has to be sped up as well?
- beachstartup 10y agoin commercial production it can be cured in an autoclave. i believe there are also thicker sheets that can be vacuum-bagged onto a surface, so you don't need to layer it.
- matthewmcg 10y agoSimilar experience, but in Florida. At least for most of the one-design classes, the total weight of the boats and the dimensions of the important parts was set by class rules to pretty narrow tolerances regardless of construction materials. Of course with better composites you got more stiffness and could also put the weight in the most advantageous position.