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Inexpensive peel ply alternative


brerrabbit

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I've used "nylon fabric" from walmart with good success meaning that it peeled off just fine. Only problem was that it was black so you couldn't see air bubbles which is one of the reasons to use peel ply in the first place. I was vacuum bagging however so it wasn't really a problem. I've also heard of using old baggy spinnaker nylon but never tried.

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Once you know how peel ply works, its easy to pick a substitute if a cheaper one is available. First, you want a material that epoxy doesn't stick to very well. Most synthetics meet that requirement unless the threads are fuzzy. Epoxy will lock into the fuzzy threads, whether it sticks well to the material or not. If the synthetic material has a high thread count and is not fuzzy it will work. The shiny look is an indication that it does not have fuzzy threads. Coatings may be a problem but I don't know how you can tell if material at an outlet store is coated or not. Unless you are making a structural joint over the peeled epoxy, I don't think a coating will be a problem anyway. In that case, sand before joining the bulkheads, etc.

So how does peel ply work? The high thread count insures that the epoxy that comes through the material only does so in tiny tendrils between the tightly woven threads. When you peel it off, the force is concentrated along a very small edge and it is easy to exceed the PSI limit of the epoxy and break the tendrils. There is no magic to peel ply and any material that meets the above requirements will work.

Make very sure that your material does not contain any cotton or other natural fibers. This is what happens when you have some cotton in the material. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluejacket28/

Of course, you can just buy some peel ply and avoid the risk.

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