Gardner,

Carbon is as easy as glass to wet out, but it doesn't go opaque, so is difficult to see.  To get best performance from the tow it should be bagged.  The exception to this is when it is being used to tie things down (beams, deck fittings etc).   I wet tow out ith a wet out machine or infusion.  No problems so far, but we are doing a 15mm thick rudder shaft tomorrow which may test the limits.  For individual strands of tow, I resin a piece of plastic, lay out the tows alongside each other and wet them with plenty of resin using a brush, then remove the excess with a squeegee.  This still leaves plenty of resin in the tow.  Carbon cloth is not unidirectional, so is not a replacement for tow.  Test cloth for bending ability before you do any big jobs.  200 gsm/6 ounce should bend about the same as twice the weight of glass, but as it is thickness dependant, it will bend easier if it has been bagged.  IMO, the extra cost of cloth does not justify using it instead of glass for most applications.  My rudders and beam use glass for the off axis loads and tow for the inline loads.  Ditto all the masts we have built so far.  My wing mast will use carbon cloth as it is very weight (pitching, capsize) sensitive.

George,

Your tow is 50k.  The info is on a sticker inside the cardboard spool.  Tow is half the price of uni, and there is no waste on tapered tubes.  On straight tubes for non cheapskates, uni is easier to use, although once you have a wet out machine set up, tow is just as much/little work as uni.  All our infused tow samples look great.  If my rudders work, we will be trying it on the beam, then the mast.  At some stage, there will be too much thickness to infuse, but we have not reached there yet.  Tube masts are a little harder to infuse as they are not flat panels, but this is technique, not materials related.  Wing masts are a flat panel, so should be easier.