The Astroliner

[Atomic77]

Thanks Johnysteam! Dale I'll go to the attic tonight and bring it back down for some pictures. I think it will work for you. They have it in both 30 and 50A.

[Atomic77]

Ok here you go. Hopefully it will work for you. it's a very nice all stainless piece with a seal inside for weatherproofing. Very heavy and quality made. Furrion makes very nice products.

[dales133]

Looks good thanks for that.
What do they charge for the plug that fits this?

[Atomic77]

Looks good thanks for that.
What do they charge for the plug that fits this?

Here is the plug/chord that I'm using. I found it on Ebay.

[dales133]

I'd have to make one because the other end wouldn't work here

[Atomic77]

Today was a very productive day! Since I still haven't found anyone to confirm my epoxy/Filon process, I made a test piece to see what would happen. After totally destroying the test piece, I determined the bond between the Luan/Filon is stronger than the materials themselves! So.... We prepped one of the walls, coated it with epoxy, made a bag and vacuum clamped it! We used putty tape to seal the bag, some cotton and some slotted vacuum hose to keep the airflow going. It is a pretty big bag job considering its 10'x20' ! Looking forward to getting the other one done tomorrow!

[dales133]

Awsum!

[Atomic77]

Today we decided to go ahead and trim the Filon on the wall before we move on to the next one. So we shaped the edges and cut out the window and hatches with the router.

[OP827]

This looks fantastic, Michael ! Did you use shop vac to clamp down the filon with epoxy and for how much time, no issues? This is a huge bag, so I think the shop vac (not a vacuum pump, which is usually much smaller capacity) is the way to go.
Oleg

[Atomic77]

Yes, we actually used two shop vac's, one on each end at opposite corners. We let them run for 6 hours in 65 degree temp. About 5 hours in, one of the shop vac's threw a blade through the motor and it totally imploded! We had a back up ready just in case! On the second bag we used large wool army blankets to keep the air flowing in the bag which made for a much better clamp. Overall I'm really pleased!

[KCStudly]

Looking really good!

[Atomic77]

Thanks! I feel like we're finally getting somewhere...

[Atomic77]

We finished vacuum bagging the second wall. I added a few pictures today of the trimming and routing process. Once I got all of the routing finished, we carefully sanded all the edges smooth and then taped then up so one final coat of epoxy could be applied. One of the reasons many sidewalls fail is due to moisture getting into a seam. Once the moisture penetrates the edge of the Luan wall it's pretty much over. The Filon might stay bonded to the Luan, but the glue in the Luan deteriorates and the Luan rots. I have seen Filon bonded walls flapping in the wind because the Luan separated. Not because the Filon separated from the Luan. In most cases of delamination, its the Luan separating from itself. In the last two pictures you can see the Luan wall bonded to the Plywood window frame with the Filon bonded to the Luan. After routing and sanding the edges they were coated with epoxy to seal it, hopefully forever...

[aggie79]

Michael,

Your teardrop standy walls look fantastic. Thank you for sharing the pictures of how you did the vacuum bagging to bond the Filon to the plywood.

I am amazed that you had any time to take pictures doing that large of a layup "with the clock ticking." If you don't mind, I am intrigued by your process and would like to know some more details please. What material did you use to make your vacuum "bag". (It looks to me like it is polyethylene sheeting.) How did you measure the resin and hardener - by weight or by volume perhaps using pumps? Did you mix the resin and hardener by hand or with some type of paddle mixer? How did you apply the epoxy to the plywood - with a brush, roller, notched trowel, etc.? Did you apply the epoxy in one coat?

Thank you and please forgive me for derailing your thread.

Take care,
Tom

[Atomic77]

Thanks Tom!

Actually it wasn't bad at all. A quart of epoxy will go off in the cup in about 10 minutes. But spread out thin it takes several hours. At the race shop I have pre-measured pumps, but I don't have that availability at home in the garage. So I use mixing cups with the 4:1 ratio on them. I always mix the epoxy by hand to prevent extra bubbles being mixed in. I poured it out on the surface and used a large squeegee to spread it out. Then, Carrie rolled it out even with a foam roller. We used polyethylene plastic sheets to make the bag and sealed them up with putty tape. Everything went pretty smoothly!