I laminated a board today and used some on the deck near the rails above the fin boxes, but there were some difficulties. My plan was to use spray adhesive, place the two 12" pieces of fused tape, then laminate the bottom. However, the spray adhesive didn’t hold it too well, so I used UV lam resin to try and set it better. I put it in the sun for a few minutes then laminated the bottom. Problem was it still wasn’t too secure and it lifted some of the cloth on the lap. I had to cut out the delam and fix it before I went onto the top lamination.
How do others use it? Can I laminate the bottom first then try and set it on the top. Seems like a problem since it be uneven over the lap. Should I load up on the spray adhesive?
Carbon tape like that will lay down and kind of stick to your board and rail without resin. You can carefully roll out your cloth over it after you get it into the position you desire and laminate it. Make sure to pay attention and wet out the carbon areas well so you don’t get bubbles because you are going to have three layers of cloth in that area.
If you are careful to get it wet out properly; It is easier to work with than “Woven Carbon”. I assume you were placing the tape on the rails of the deck in the tail area?? If that is the case, it would be easier to laminate the bottom with a freelap or a cutlap and then place the tape at the rail on the deck. Then laminate your deck. The bottom lap onto the deck makes a good surface for the tape to stick to. The tape is less likely to move around while using your squeege. That was probably your problem the first time around. When you place the tape on the deck side with adhesive and then laminate the bottom you are tucking the rail cloth underneath onto the deck. With the tape under the rail cloth there is a tendency to pull with added pressure which will cause the tape to move around. The opposite of pulling too hard is being too gentle fearing the tape will move, making it less likely to saturate. When I do Carbon tape I use a three inch cotton roller to saturate, then pull off the excess resin with the squeege. I roll the cloth back and saturate the tape first. Then I flip the cloth over on the tape and laminate. By doing the tape and then saturating the cloth over the tape, I am pretty well insured saturation. Most of the time I don’t use adhesive. I just roll a little resin onto the rail where I want the tape and then stick the tape the same way I would do a laminate/rice paper logo.
Thanks a lot McDing. That was just the kind of help I was hoping to get. Next time I will try applying it after I lam the bottom. I will put in the time to gring down the lap as smooth as possible. Thanks again
…the problem with most of these gizmos is when is time to do a ding repair. The nylon or similar crap besides (and sometimes is very wide) will be not disappear after the sanding beofre the ding lamination…