removing moisture from fibreglass

[Spiderpig]

I have a 2400 Kevlacat and the are two small dings in one of the keels. I am assuming it is kevla that is showing and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on removing the moisture prior to repair?

I was thinking about maybe using a wick?

[Mr__Bean]

When we repair this type of damage on aircraft the area is covered in folded absorbent cloth, then has a plastic lining sealed over it.

A vacuum line is sealed under the bag and vacuum is applied.

Heat lamps or blowers are used to assist larger areas.

Darren

[thylacene]

A grinder? I prefer to run repairs onto a clean dry freshly sanded surface, avoids trapped air or moisture, feathered out to the in damaged area.

Self taught amateur, the most expensive form of education, examination by experimentation, accreditation through repetition.

Others may have different methods

Post some pics, it helps

[chris69]

kevlar has good resitance to hydrolysis but you dont no how far it may be fractured as salt may be trapped in these fractures, Thylancene advice is on the money its the only way to be sure you get a propper repair,kevla does feather when sanded and theres nothing you can do about it.

[Spiderpig]

I might have to get a picture up because I'm having trouble understanding.

Thyla,

What did you mean by this?


avoids trapped air or moisture, feathered out to the in damaged area.

The Kevlar doesn't seem to be impregnated with glass and it seems to have drawn some moisture in. It is wet to touch like a hessian bag, ie not hard.

I do like the idea of running a vac pump on it for a while, I do have access to one and dont think it wouldn't hurt. I will try to open ut up a bit for the repair but want to try to avoid turning a small hole in to a large one (for cosmetic reasons).

[thylacene]

Gradual slope from centre of damage to edge of repair, about 1 in 10, means the area increase, but the angle of the join created allows gelcoat or flow coat to overlap existing making the repair less obvious after sanding and doesn't leave a "ring" of resin visible.

[thylacene]

In other words, if you grind 5 mm deep, 50mm any direction from the centre, 10 x depth. Hope this helps

[chris69]

Id ring Kevlar cat and tell them about your problem and ask what the resin they use in the layup and let them know that the kevlar is like a wet hession bag, the resin has been mashed out of it and that should not be or the kevlar wasnt wet out properly in the lay up process ....dry sheath.... or you have a delamination and thats not good,it should have been vinylester resin and this bonds well to kevlar as does epoxy.

[Spiderpig]

On closer insperction it looks more like the kevlar has has been roughened up by the ding. Im going to open it op like thyla said and then run a vac pump on it for a while, I don't think it could hurt.