Coolroom panel EPS fish

Hi there, managed to score some Coolroom panel and have Hotwired a fish. I kinda think it may be too light or low density… It seems to be just a touch softer than PU, and feather light. Reckon it needs a stringer? I was thinking glassing quad axial as a whole layer on the top layup and maybe a carbon stronger on the bottom. So 4x4x4 but with a few 

 

 

Oops, with a few added reinforcements, thoughts?

It’s 5’9x 20x 2 1/2…any suggestions? It’s been fun mucking around with it anyways. Good practice.

Anyone?

I’d cut it down the center and glue in a stringer.  Shape it and laminate it 6X6X6 fiberglass.  KISS.  Mike

No worries, thanks for the advice! I’m gonna do a test piece with my original intended layup and see how that feels too

How do you reckon you’d clamp it?

N-

It’s way easier to set the stringer in foam that is ‘sled cut’ that is rocker cut but outline is still square.  Do you have the offcuts still?

Here is a pic showing clamps, extra foam, and bits of plywood to clamp a reworked outlined shape together. In this case I pulled a stringer out of a SUP and replaced it with a foaming PU glue line. There are two sawhorses and another crossbeam midship to keep the rocker in place while the glue sets.

There are other ways: shrink wrap, old bicycle inner tubes, tape, ratchet straps, bungees, sandbags…Clamps and blocking work for me.

Which glue you choose might influence your clamping. Foaming PU fills in cracks and has a short clamping time but takes more clamping to keep things straight/even. Epoxy is easy but can drain out of the joint and make a mess unless the stringer is horizontal. There are other kinds like Roo glue which I have not tried.

 

 

Brilliant idea! I suppose I’d have to cut it with a wire cutter? A saw might snap the nose I’m guessing. 

 

Is that a Rolling Rock bottle with roughly 6-oz of fluid you are using to keep the top of the blank in place?

I would go nice and slow with a hand saw, no power tools. Or use a hot wire if you can make it go straight and plumb to the shape.

Doing a test panel is always good.  What about shaping a couple of rail channels and filling those with fiberglass or carbon?  The corrugation effect adds stiffness but nothing is break-proof.

Yessir!

What about spackling the insides before gluing the stringer to get less soak in?

At that size You don’t need a stringer, even with low density eps. Add glass up to have a firm skin to tumb test.

Thanks heaps for all the suggestions, I think…I don’t even know what I’ll do now!! Haha! Maybe just a bit of 6 ounce in my layup somewhere!

My test nose had 4 ounce quad axial and 4 oz shapers glass. Doesn’t feel much different to regular PU board shop thumb tests…surprisingly stiff and strong