xps bending photo - experiment

General Discussion
1

Ok -  I sanded a little groove in the deck/concave side and epoxied two bands of carbon fiber tow. Blocks under, and sand bags on top.  Had the curve set just how I wanted it. 

Bottom line: (-) Had some uneven “spring back”  that’s not what I was after. (+) Nice and stiff. 

Since I was after saving a little foam, and minimal hotwiring, and since it didn’t come out close enough the first time, I’m taking the (+) away, and not trying to figure out how to get it “just right.”  Getting it just right is more work than just hotwiring.  

The utility of the stiffness will be: I’ll shape the bottom, put a nice little stiff smooth, flat strip in the tail section, shape and glass the deck - 'cuz I like to glass the bottom nice and smooth over the lap, and then I can be as precious or minimalist as I want on the deck side lap

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2

I’ve been doing these cuts to wrap about 1" of XPS foam as a perimeter rail band. XPS is water proof, so I figure it’s a good choice for rails. Even with the relief cuts, I’ve broken foam trying to get it to bend all the way around the nose. An external band, like the way wood workers bend wood around curves, would help to keep it from braking.

 

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3

Hey SC,  Glad to see you are still in the game…  

I did some relief cuts.  I lifted the tail end with blocks of wood - like I wrote, the curve was perfect - so I’m not sure if the slightly un even “spring back” was due to the cuts, blocks; probably a combination of both.

Restoked me up on my good old hotwire!