Starboard (Outboard) Float Half Infused (But not really)

After 10+ hours of crawling around looking for any sign of leaks, I finally gave up and rolled the dice on infusing the float half. At this point, curiosity was simply getting the best of me and I was hoping to run across a big leak along the infusion and get it patched. I knew this was going to be a gamble of sorts (and I always lose when gambling), so I had some backup plans in place.

The infusion started off just fine and right away we found a leak through the foam near the front end of the float. This was easily patched with some putty along the backside and we continued the infusion. Further down we found a leak behind a screw and that was also fixed easily.

The infusion flow itself went very well and came out better than I expected, but we had a tough time keeping all the buckets filled up while scrambling around checking out everything else.

When we were about half-way through, I noticed the front section of the float along the tacky tape area starting to get dried out. Evidently this is where the leak was. Not one tiny leak, but a slow leak along the entire tacky tape area. At this point I knew the infusion itself was going to be a failure and I'd have to resort to one of two backup plans:

1) Remove all the infusion consumables and finish the job via hand lamination
2) Remove everything down to the foam and squeegee clean before starting over.

- In the end, we went with Option 1. -

I just couldn't justify the materials waste unless the job couldn't be saved, so we decided to try that before moving down to Option 2.

So after the infusion was completed, we turned off the pump and cut off the consumables leaving only the peel-ply and tacky tape in place. Once that was done we mixed up some more epoxy and just went along the float back filling the dried out areas with a squeegee. It took quite a while, but the end result actually looks really good.

(And NO, I don't want to repeat that again if I don't have to!)

As for lessons learned, (At this rate, I just might know what I'm doing by the time I finish this project):

1) Put on a thicker coat of epoxy sealant along the tacky tape edge of the foam.
2) Reduce the number of bag penetrations.
2) Use no more than two buckets to introduce epoxy into the mold (preferably one).
3) If you can't get a good seal, then just opt for hand laminating and move on.

I wish I had more pictures, but it was pretty hectic there for a while.

Epoxy supply Pre-measured

Labeled to avoid confusion

Resin front heading down the first inlet.

Resin Front moving along the hull very nicely as expected.
Notice the resin front lag along the top of the stringer.
The green flow media ends at the base of the stringer perimeter, this forces the epoxy to flow beneath the stringer and up the sides as it works it's way to the vacuum source.

Heating blanket set at 82C.
Insulated over the top to reduce energy waste.
I'll be sliding it down every eight hours to complete the elevated temperature Post-Cure.

I removed a small section of peel ply near the front of the float to get a good look at the fiberglass.
The first 4-5" (100 - 125mm) of foam here will be cut off as it extends past Float Frame #1.