Composites work

[Sequim Jim]

I would like to offer my composite services to land speed racers.
I owned my own composites manufacturing company build military drones and we build custom tooling, repaired small watercraft and ATVs. On the side we restored wood boats and built high performance racing sailboats.
I taught advanced aviation composites manufacturing at the community college for several years. This included hand layup, vacuum bagging, infusion and pre-preg. I don't have an autoclave, so I prefer to stick with hand layup and vacuum bagging.

[NathanStewart]

Care to give a consult on a build idea I have?  I'd like to build a special construction body using a moldless technique much like you'd build a boat hull.  And like a boat hull, I'd like to use foam sandwich construction.  I personally don't want to deal with making the body 3 times in order to create a plug then a mold and then the final piece (and have a big giant mold and plug left over to store somewhere).  To me, moldless construction is the cheapest and maybe easiest way to build a composite body.  For the foam, I was thinking 1/4" thick.  I see that a lot of boats are made from foam strip planking which seems to work well when you're dealing with really thick pieces of foam but for this body, I'm thinking scoured sheet planking over a jig with battens would work.  I plan on doing all hand layup work since pre-preg and vacuum bagging is an added expense I'd like to avoid.  If you're willing to give complimentary consult, I'd appreciate your input.

Feel free to PM or email me or reply here.  Thanks!

[Sequim Jim]

Here's a freebie.
The easiest way to get a one off, is to use foam. I prefer pink or blue. After you get the foam shaped, spray Super 77 contact cement on it and roll aluminum foil over it. You can get aluminum foil out of any old lady's cupboard, just don't get caught. The foil will give you a surface that you can wax and use release agents. From there do your layup.

[NathanStewart]

Thanks for the tip.

[Sequim Jim]

Just remember to do your layup in reverse. Start with the heavier cloth and work your way to the finer cloth on the outside. Lightly sand with 80 grit and hit it with gel coat sealer or a good primer.

[tauruck]

Good advice Jim. Nice of you to want to help.