To reach the required post-cure for my infusion resin, we built a full-size insulated “oven” around the main hull. After one predictable lesson about hot roofs and weak fasteners, two diesel heaters and a warm workshop easily held the target temperature for the full cycle.
Post-curing
I had been waiting for summer temperatures to make this step feasible. The infusion-formulated resin I used needs post-curing at about 80°C for eight hours. That is a lot to achieve with simple means.
Together with my son I built a full-size “oven” around the complete main hull. The walls consisted of 100 mm polystyrene insulation sheets, supported by prefabricated particle-board H-beams. Making those H-beams was a quick-and-dirty job: three strips of particle board stacked into an H-shape.
The first heating test ended with the roof collapsing. The fixing method with (too small) staples turned out to be far too weak for particle board at elevated temperature. I replaced them with 60 mm screws, which solved the problem. That was the only real setback; the rest went smoothly.
With a workshop temperature around 25°C, two diesel heaters—one at each end of the box—were sufficient to reach and hold the target 70–80°C oven temperature for the full post-cure cycle.
This photo gallery (16 images) shows the full-size post-curing oven built around the main hull: insulation panels and H-beam framing, the first heat test and roof failure, the repair (staples replaced by screws), and the final post-cure run with diesel heaters holding 70–80°C.
