Start the Resin

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The resin is starting to flow over the panel. We have only one hose open at this time. You can see the resin flowing out from both sides of the number one hose. We opened this hose first as the resin has the longest distance to travel from this hose to the deck edge radius. 

Steve mixed small batches of resin and brought them to the reservoir as the previous batch was used up. If you mix large batches of resin, they have a tendency to kick faster if there is a large volume in the reservoir. We want as much time as we can get with a panel this size. 

Do not allow the reservoir to be empty as this will allow air into your system and will effect the resin flow. We are infusing this panel in the evening and the temperature was cool so we thought we would have ample working time before the resin gelled. You can see by the watch in the corner, we are into the infusion just over 9 minutes.

You can see the resin working its way along the scoring on top of the foam. 

There were a few times during this process that we had to help the resin flow. We found that if you pulled up on the bag a bit, it would create a channel and that would help the resin flow to areas that we felt were not getting enough resin, fast enough.

Here is the panel, over 30 minutes into the infusion process. Looking good. With close inspection, there does not seem to be any area of the panel that is not covered with resin. 

If you look carefully, you can see the resin has already passed the deck edge radius and on its way to the vacuum lines that circle the panel.

View from the stern of the panel.

We are at 30 minutes, 58 seconds and it looks like the whole panel is finished. You can see the resin has gone past the edge of the foam and is making its way to the vacuum lines. We did not have any resin get into the lines and they could be used again. Any hose or material that the resin comes into contact with will be unusable as the resin cures and can not be removed. 

We left the panel over night. We wrapped it in tarps and blankets. The next morning we removed the bag and all the hoses, etc. This is one reason for the peel ply. It allows easy removal of the bag, shade cloth and hoses.