How are you envisioning using the vacuum bagging technique? Would you vacuum bag on a wooden boat, or would you be vacuum bagging in a separate mold? If so, it's not very cost-effective to build a whole mold for 1 or 2 boats. You could, perhaps, vacuum-bag a hull off of an existing hull. You could probably just pay the "designer's fee" if the original is a wood boat; if it's a production boat, the ethics and legality get sticky.

I think the vacuum pump would be the most expensive part. I work in the construction industry and I could borrow one from the testing lab that tests our concrete and aggregates. Vacuum pumps are also used in schools--chemistry and physics labs--know any teachers?? Maybe you could swing a deal with somebody to borrow a pump for a week or two.

Except for the tubes, everything else is consumed in the vacuum-bagging process. You could buy the cheap polyethylene tubing from your friendly local hardware store and get the brass elbows like Ray used, rather than buying the "official" pieces. JR Sweet has peel ply, breather ply, and the plastic film. You should be able to make a resin trap (to protect that expensive vacuum pump from epoxy intrusion) from a mason jar or a jelly jar. I think most vacuum bagging is done under -6 to -7 psi, so it's not a very significant pressure (on a jar). It just becomes significant when you spread that pressure over a few tens-of-thousands of square inches of hull space.

I think Charlie Walbridge's "Boatbuilder's Manual" has information on vacuum bagging, but I can't remember exactly.

> Ray's page is what got me interested in the process. But in all the other
> kayak pages I have never heard of anyone else using it. I suspect that the
> cost of the equipment might make it cost prohibitive if you are making
> only one or two boats.

> Jack