100 percent certianty

The carbon fiber chain plates are in the bag and it's nice to know with 100 percent certainty that all reinforcements are fully saturated.  This vac bag session involved laying 34 pieces of both glass and unidirectional carbon fiber. The key to being able to manage such an involved process is all in the preparation.   Before the first batch of epoxy was mixed, I measured and cut each piece of fabric and laid them out on a clean table in the order in which they were to be applied. The vacuum bag was also ready to go with a layer of breather, perf and peel ply in place.

To make it easy to apply the laminates, I mounted the two chain plates on a base standing up on ends. This allowed me to apply resin between each layer of unidirectional carbon offering an additional opportunity to squeegee the resin downwards insuring that all of the unidirectional carbon was aligned.

I have little doubt that something else will break first before these chain plates fail............Now I will be able to sleep like a cat when waves are bashing the cabin top.