Peel-Ply to reduce sanding

[Desert Jay]

I was just looking at William's P-ship blog and he used something called peel-ply that apparently one lays over the wet epoxy and it leaves a finish that needs little or no sanding (I'm starting to salivate). I read a little about this and it does not adhere to the epoxy and peels off later to leave a smooth finish. Does anybody know about this and/or used it? His after photos look great and he did not need to sand. I've cut my centerboard trunk sides and plan to do my first ever epoxying(if that's a word) and am a bit nervous. All sages please chime in.
Thanks,
Jay

[Shudoman]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for looking at my blog. I actually got the idea of using peel ply from CLC's own website. Check out the low-down here:

http://www.clcboats.com/shoptips/epoxy_ ... abric.html

Happy building.

Bill

[Desert Jay]

Thanks Bill,
I tried to reply on your blog but couldn't figure out how to do it. I'm tech-challenged. Are you pleased with the results? Do you plan on using this for the rest of the boat?

Thanks,
Jay

[Shudoman]

I love the results... unfortunately peel ply doesn't take to curves very well so you can only use it on flat surfaces. I plan to use it on the long side panels that can be glassed before install and other places where it makes sense. Any place that I can logically use it I will.

I just wish I had used it on the other builds I have done.

Bill

[John C. Harris]

I'm a huge convert, and hang the cost. All of the PocketShip panels that are 'glassed while still flat can be treated with peel ply, saving many hours.

I've done all of the pre-'glassing on the Madness Proa with peel ply. A 31-foot multihull has lots and lots and lots and lots of 'glassed surface area. Being able to do the 'glass in one shot, ready for 220-grit sanding, is amazing. I need to do a proper comparison but I think you tend to save weight when you use peel ply, too.

Peel ply: http://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/b ... abric.html

Peel ply being laid onto 26-ounce unidirectional glass on crossbeam components for the proa. A wide squeegee was helpful for smoothing out the peel ply.

Peel Ply Example.jpg (237.05 KiB) Viewed 7227 times

[Wood_Ogre]

I use peel-ply when I do vacume bagging I have a 5 ft by 12 ft vacume bag. The end results is less resin in the lay up. With out the vacume it requires more resin to get a good lay up. For doing flat work it gets you to the finished product faster. If you are good at hand layup there is no benefit in useing peel ply. for the amature it may be helpful but you can still screw up if you use to much resin. Any way it would save a lot of sanding for the amature. But there is very little sanding in hand lay up once you develope the skill. So is useing peel-ply in hand layup good ? For vacume bagging , Yes ! For hand lay up ? For me no but if you lack experience , maybe. !! Should you try it ? Yes ,just because it's good to learn new things