Peel-ply

[rv8air]

Vendor sites say their peel ply is treated, but hot rod and homebuilder sites indicate that tight weaved dacron or nylon works too.

Is the dacron sold in bulk from ACS the same as the peel ply tape sold in rolls?

Does ordinary dacron from a fabric store work well as peel ply?

What's your experience with various fabrics?

inquiring minds want to know...

[Randy Hooper]

I use Dacron left over from covering fabric aircraft. It works fine.

[RV7Guy]

Go to a local fabric store and buy it. Same results and cheaper.

[David Paule]

Turns out that if the peel-ply has a silicone coating, which some do, the secondary bonds are of poor quality. This was just discussed a few days ago on a trimaran sailboat forum (The F-Boat List on Yahoo) and that's where I learned this.

The recommendation is to buy it from a composites supply company.

I have used the polyester fabric from Aircraft Spruce with good results, but I haven't used it for highly structural applications yet.

And to avoid a misconception, that series of sailboat is well-engineered and has proven to be durable, robust and light. It's not your typical lead-keel pudgy sailboat. Plans are available for some models (www.farriermarine.com) which describe the material to use and the direction to orient it for every single piece of glass or carbon on the boat. I've found composites advice from that forum to be reliable.

[DanH]

I'll second aircraft fabric. It's not coated....remember, they want attach glue and paint to stick to it.

[bhassel]

I used Airtech for peel ply supplies during a compostie build. You can find it at https://www.airtechonline.com/htm/defaultIE.htm - good prices.

Be careful with fabric from fabric stores, it tends to have sizing chemicals, etc. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Bob

[trib]

My previous project was a dragonfly and I typically used fabric store peel-ply. The only thing is, unless you know it is dacron, it likely will not work! If you have a sample of the cloth, take it with you and compare it to the material at the store. It was usually apparent that way. When you find a match, purchase a small bit (it's very cheap, relatively to aircraft sources) then take it home and do a sample layup. If it's usable you will know it-same if it is not. The similar but not quite variety will end up not pulling away cleanly, i.e. it will tear and leave many remnants such that you end up sanding it all away to correct . The proof is in the pudding!