Sender: Star45@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 16:13:37 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [Star45] plugs and moulds
For the hulls I have laid up we have never used gel coat, just pva then lay up the hull. You do need to wash and sand the hulls afterword to remove the pva or nothing will stick. For a male mold you have to wash in inside of the hull before gluing anything in.
I have a lot of experiance using silicone molds. used to work at a PUR molder who used silicone tools exclusively. They offer great detail reproduction and the ability to die lock the part with no ill effect. The down side is that the silicone wears out. We used to get 30 to 80 turns per silicone before making another one. The silicone is also compressable so if you are vac bagging it may change the hull size slightly.
John
