Specific to the PNW

[artbyjody]

Originally Posted by KeelHaulin

How thick do you need the balsa? There was a local listing for boxes of 2'X4' sheet a few days ago on San Francisco region craigslist. I think it might have been 1-1/4" thick however...

Thanks for the response - shipping charges would kill me, and I plan on sticking with 1/4" and where additional is needed layering them up to desired thickness .....

[hellosailor]

Jody, balsa is balsa--very much lighter than, say, Bruneel Plywood. (Which feels like a cutting block.) Shipping for sheets that small, which can be boxed and sent without oversize problems, might not be so bad. The alternative is someplace like Defender (east coast, sorry) which stocks BalTek products as I recall.

[Jeff_H]

It is a worse than a very bad idea to build up layers of 1/4" balsa to the right thickness. In that configuration it will have a very short lifespan since you can't properly bond and seal the end grains.

Jeff

[hellosailor]

Jeff, why couldn't you paint the end grains with epoxy to bond and seal them? Presumably that's how you'd build up layers anyway. No?

[artbyjody]

Originally Posted by Jeff_H

It is a worse than a very bad idea to build up layers of 1/4" balsa to the right thickness. In that configuration it will have a very short lifespan since you can't properly bond and seal the end grains.

Jeff

Considering you have to seal the stuff anyways - unless you are doing a wet-layup (which I probably wouldn't)... doing a layer of 9oz bi-directional glass in between with second balsa panel with grain running in opposite direction - I see no real difference about the sealing the ends as they have to be sealed anyways..

Am I missing something here?

[Jeff_H]

I suppose if you elected to essentially build a double cored layup by bonding layer of balsa with its own intermediate membrane, vaccuum bagged into place, then prep and build a second core and lay-up, you might end up with something nearly as good as a single lay-up but a little heavier, much less reliable, and certainly requiring a lot more work and care to build. (Why wouldn't you do a wet lay-up of the individual cores?)

But the more that I think about this, at the heart of it, I am wondering why you are using a balsa core anyway. As I understand it the two problem areas in question are the cockpit sole and the deck under the maststep. These are high load/high impact areas, which would be better rebuilt with plywood.

Respectfully,
Jeff

[KeelHaulin]

I don't know what the plans are either; I thought she said she was re-coring the entire deck. I agree with Jeff that the area around the mast step should at minimum be plywood; you could even make the area directly beneath the mast solid fiberglass by using an FRP block that you glass in (beneath the outer skin). Some pictures would really help us see what the problems are and how best to deal with them...

[CharlieCobra]

Jody may not be a Female. I once knew a Jody that was one of the biggest, nastiest Dudes I've ever met. To this day, I wouldn't call him a her. Not unless I had a cocked and locked Glock 10 mm in my hand.