Josh Briggs
Left—The Thin Air Press from Roarockit is a hand-operated vacuum-bagging system that’s ideal for laminating small-boat pieces. Right—The Thin Air Press includes a purpose-made vacuum bag, breather netting, and a fitting to which the hand-operated vacuum pump attaches.
Sometimes a product or idea from another field works as well as or better than one devised specifically for boatbuilding. Such was the case when I was looking to laminate the marine-plywood daggerboard and rudder on the Church Mouse Skiff, a 7′6″ Joel White–designed sailing dinghy (see WB Nos. 310 and 311). I was working with a class at Acera School, a K–9 school for gifted students in Winchester, Massachusetts. Inspired by the skateboards on display overhead in the shop, we realized we could employ a skateboard-deck lamination process that uses a manual vacuum press. I had taught multiple classes in skateboard-making over the past decade, and it seemed like a great solution that we were already set up for. The process worked so well for the first skiff we built that we used it again when we built another one as a display at the 2026 WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.
The method we used, vacuum-bagging, is often used in boatbuilding to clamp epoxy-glued laminates. By removing the air from a sealed bag placed around the pieces being laminated, the ambient air pressure clamps the joint as the glue cures. A typical vacuum-bagging setup in a boatbuilding shop might involve an expensive electric vacuum pump with tubing; a vacuum gauge; a flat, air-tight surface or mold; and other consumables—including the adhesive applicator, breather fabric, vacuum-bag film, and double-sided sealing tape.