Wet Panel Carriers

The Venice trip in December made me think again about the need for wet panel carriers because all oils would have to be carried back to UK still wet.  In Cornwall, I remembered liking the one that Mike Richardson had made from foamboard and Gaytor (Duct, Duck, Gaffa, etc) tape.  Two boards in each slot, back-to-back and, say, 3 or 4 slots. 

I decided to make some small prototypes and, once I had got things more or less right go into production for myself and David (Pilgrim), making carriers for the sizes we were likely to use on the trip.  I have reached prototype 4 (P4). 

I started with foamboard, wood strips as spacers (glued with PVA glue) and brown gummed tape - I have a huge stock of gummed tape that my framer used to dump on me every time he made me some frames.  P1 was made this way and takes 8x5.5 inch boards.  P2 is 8 inches wide and will take boards up to 15 inches deep.  Same design but I put Gaffer Tape over the gummed tape to make it weatherproof. 

I then realised that I was running out of wood strips (for corners and for spacers) and it would cost ten times what I had originally paid for them to replace them.  For P3 I decided to try plastic square channel – still expensive but half the price of wood.  I used superglue to bond the channel to the foamboard.  I also used peel-and-stick plastic angle for the outside corners but decided that this is an expensive luxury that just adds weight without making the carrier much stronger. 

P4 is nearing ‘production’ status and will take 8-inch-wide boards up to 11 inches in length.

David needs 11-inch-wide slots (among other sizes) but I think that 5mm foamboard will not be sufficiently rigid for this span so I am going to try 10mm foamboard or make the wide sides from double-skinned

5mm foamboard.  So, on to P5!