>The aw top that's on my van was made from a combination of both hand >lay-up and chop mat. I've work in fiberglass kayak building and some >boat building. In Sea Kayaks this can be a common method for >production. Chop mat does have it's advantages over hand lay but if you >were going to take your time I would agree with Gary and lay the whole >thing up with cloth. It's probably semantics, but someone mentioned using a chopper gun with compressed air to spray in the glass fiber and resin mix. By hand lay up, I was thinking in terms of a glass cloth and mat laminate. So hand laying the mat fabric. A layer of mat, then a layer of cloth, then a layer of mat etc. The mat fabric looks liked chopped up strands of fibers pressed together. Kind of like oriented strand board used as sheathing in house construction. I doubt any Kayaks are made using a chopper gun, too much weight and less rigid. Shower stalls are chopper gun. I wonder if the original AW tops are chopper gun or hand lay-up? Chopper gun looks rougher and more inconsistent. Hand lay-up is smoother as it is rolled out. I assume the AW inside liner is thin and light, this would suggest hand lay-up. |
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