Chopper guns....

[Jono]

Have the new generation of internal mix chopper guns got any place in building quality craft? With a skilled operator can they be used to get a good, uniform thickness? Can operators be trained easily.. assuming they are conscientious?

Could any of our boat-building fraternity give me an enlightened opinion please?

[kitten]

IMHO chopper guns will only ever be as good as chopped strand mat (clue in the name there) which is not really a structural mat, due to the short stand length not spreading loads over long distances effectively.
With tracer stands it is possible to get quite an even cover with a gun, still needs rolling though.
Personally I don't like them, though I can see the appeal.

[Hydrostream]

Personaly I think chopper guns could be used to build quality craft with use of hand layed cloth but certainly not in the perfomance section. Resin to glass ratio is usually quite high, and as kitten already pointed out there realy isnt any structure in it. Great for a bulk laminate if weight is not an issue.
If you take a standard CSM laminate has a resin/glass ratio of anywhere 1.5 or 2 to 1 and a chopper is higher it gets quite heavy and brittle.

If I was to invest in any equipment it would be a mix at tip gel spray setup but thats not without its issues either.