Carbon fibre + water. Long term effects?

   We all try and store our boats dry but i wonder how much care do we need to take with carbon fibre?V difficult to get all the water out of tanks and worse in the winter when the boat sits wet for months.

Does the carbon take on weight? weaken? 
Anyone run tests or are there material specifications from industry?

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roadrunner Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Groupie Joined: 13 Apr 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 43	Post Options Post Reply Quote roadrunner Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Carbon fibre + water. Long term effects? Posted: 13 May 13 at 2:23pm
	We all try and store our boats dry but i wonder how much care do we need to take with carbon fibre? V difficult to get all the water out of tanks and worse in the winter when the boat sits wet for months. Does the carbon take on weight? weaken? Anyone run tests or are there material specifications from industry?

Oatsandbeans Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 19 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 382	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oatsandbeans Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 May 13 at 2:32pm
	The carbon fibre itself has no issues with water, but the resin may. If it is a good epoxy with a good quality laminate ( correct amount of reisn and not full of air) you will not have any problems. If it is a poor lay up with low cost polyester you may have problems of water uptake and degradation. This is however rare nowadays so you will probably be fine-just try to keep the tanks dry and well ventilated when not being sailed.

alstorer Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899	Post Options Post Reply Quote alstorer Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 May 13 at 3:48pm
	What he said. Both carbon and glass fibre it depends upon the resin, but roughly speaking epoxy (especially, oddly, cheaper epoxy!) is as good as entirely waterproof. However, foam cores may not be, and wood cores, pads etc are still quite common in epoxy boats these can, if the inside of the boat is not well looked after, take on water and rot- there's a guy on the B14 forum at the moment detailing the work he's doing thanks to this on a older boat. This is what you've got to be careful of, as whilst it may be load bearing it'll be invisible until failure!
	-_ Al