Has anyone tried using these for pva?
http://www.preval.com/what-is-preval
They sell them in many hardware stores around here in the paint section.
I have something similar to this. I could use my compressor to charge it up… good idea…
I don’t get it .
The keel saga started right here with post #23 on 1/6 now it’s 2/6. Still no keel in hand. this looks like a $89 bargain to me -
http://rcsails.com/cart/product_info.php?products_id=37
The things we do in the name of fun …
Keep up the good work Buddy.
good luck
Craig
don’t think i have wasted 89 bucks worth of products yet… 
I usually have to waste two to three times the cost of product I want before i decide to go buy one…
Sheesh, if someone had just made two molds and kept one local… I may not have been so “interested” in making my own molds… 
We value our “time” very differently.
don’t forget to add in all the searching for solutions time…
BTW having a mold is only half the battle. you still need to figure out what to put in it… ask the man doing it. I think he is on his 3rd generation.
Depends on who’s paying for the time…
My time at home is free…I can either sit in front of the idot box, or be “productive” (being very generous with that term )
my first version will be two layers of CF, with a foam core… for the keel and one layer for the rudder…
Marc,
If I can add another 3 cents into the keel saga :). If you use PVA in the next attempt, let it sit on the plug long enough so the resin properly cures. I think I had tried to pull my new deck too soon, (after 72 hours), and the resin still was kind of “adhesive”. The next plug I will let sit at least a week or so. Good luck anyhow
Lukasz Koch
Lukasz,
i had one or two small spots were the gelcoat did not harden up. which I would chalk up to poor mixing on my part… the west resin and glass hardened up great… the gel coat is so thick getting a good mix with such a so small amount of hardener (10:1)i thought could be a problem and apparently it was…
Hi Marc
That might be a little bendy. I use a foam core with two lays of uni-directional and two lays of 5.8 oz on the bias. I would call that about minimal. My finished fins weigh between 100 and 115 grams.
Don
really…wow. thanks don…I would have been really PO’ed to do all this and still have a wet noodle for a keel… you run the Uni with the fibers running up/down…
I agree with eric on wiping the PVA on with a corner of a t-shirt. I have gotten a great, glossy finish by spraying it on, but sometimes have wash it off three or four times because of sags/runs. I was amazed at how thin the actual coat has to be to keep the paint/gelcoat reaction separated, and the t-shirt method is very thin.
I have moved to FMS/Freekote permanent mold release, and have used it a few times on hulls with great success. I have not made a mold from a painted plug with it yet.
well, on a somewhat similar front. my guys got saddled with cleaning out one of the subbasements at work so in the process I encountered two broken easy-ups and was able to cobble together one perfect easy-up with several spare parts. So no more being hot at regatta’s
also in the mix was an 18" shrink wrap machine with a heat gun and several rolls of shrink wrap bags…something similar to this…
pretty amazing how smooth and durable of a surface results…
my PVA shipped today…so maybe next week we’ll get to try a keel and rudder mold again…
Yup!
Don
When I use PVA I just spray on a mist coat. I only use it on the first pull or two. After that just wax. I paint all my parts so the finish isn’t critical but I get a nicer finish without the PVA.
While I’m posting I think everyone that builds boats should have a compresser. You can pick them up pretty cheap and they are so handy. Nothing separates a part from the mold like a blast of compressed air. Blowing dust out of a hull. Cleaning sandind dust off a part before epoxying. Cleaning the shop- just open the door and blow all the junk into the neighbours yard. Oh, and painting, they’re good for that too.
Don
The neighbours never happy when you blow your shop Don 
Alan… It’s called a “Kiwi Broom” in boat building circles…
I do paint outside. I picked up a Garment rack at a going out of business sale… 
set it out int he yard hang the parts and have fun. it a weighted base and can handle 15lbs on the end of the arms…
I have opened up the shop, double doors, and gotten the leaf blower and had a hurrcane in side…
here are pics of take number 2…
the tooling gelcoat did not leave a nice shiny finish it did release much easier with the pva… so I’ll have to do some polishing
half of the mold done. fun half yet to come…
well last weekend I was going to work on the second half of the foil molds… I waited too long. the difference in temperature. humidity since february… warped both rudder and keel plugs. which means any further work woudl result in a really crooked keel and rudder…
So I called Mr Creed in the UK…
Iknow its been a while… and I’ve finally got more progress…a lot of progress
rudder keel and servo’s mounted. deck hardware done, rigs being built and last night I attached the deck to the hull.
Also recently I acquired a damaged lintel hull and deck so I’ve also been working on it in conjunction and it is also in a similar state of completion and I hope to have the deck on this weekend.
This weekend will also be a sail making weekend… I hope…