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 The basic tools I use most. 

 My must have boat building book list.

To the Solar Kiln

The big pump is no help unless you can get vacuum where you need it. I installed a PVC pipe with ball valves every 5' down one wall. Each valve has 20' of 3/8" Nylon tubing and a suction cup. I can set up 10 ports on the hull for big bags and distribute the vacuum throughout.

This little pump is a VACCON venturi vacuum generator. It runs on 5 cfm of compressed air at about 60 psi and will pull 4 cfm of vacuum to 24" Hg.  You can just barely see the pump itself behind the gage. A solenoid at left turns on the compressed air and is controlled by a vacuum switch mounted below the gage.  The filter on the vacuum line guards the pump from trash and epoxy drawn into the line.  With a well sealed 30 sq. ft bag, the pump runs about 10 seconds every minute or two so a relatively small compressor can easily keep up with it.  The whole rig cost about $120 to build.

The little pump above is mounted next to the vacuum table. The picture shows the bow and transom of a small pram being bagged. This table is made from 3 pieces of Melamine mounted on a 2x6 frame. The frame was carefully leveled and made perfectly flat before the Melamine was laid.  This table can handle up to a 5'x14' panel.

As most of the interior will be Tri-cell honeycomb veneered with exotic wood, this table will se a lot of use.

The table has a rack built at one end to hold glass, peel ply and breather fabric and also serves as a cutting and wetout surface.  For When wetting out glass, I cover the table with poly sheet.

To Long Boards

Site last modified:04/12/04