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by
David Pascoe |
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| From
Article
High
Tech Materials in Boat Building
Photos
by David H. Pascoe, Marine Surveyor
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Disasters like Hurricane Andrew
help surveyors to evaluate new materials and construction
methods, putting boats like these to the ultimate
test. Here we find out whether the advertising claims
meet the tests of reality. |
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The side of this 42 Bertram took out two
12" diameter wood pilings and crushed another
boat without ever breaching the hull. The tremendous
beating that this boat took proves beyond any doubt
the superiority of solid fiberglass laminates. |
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Utilizing a material called CoreMat(TM),
this hull fared poorly from contact with a weak
4" x 4" dock piling. The outer laminate
is extremely thin (less than 1/8") and had
little or no adhesion to the foam. We swung a carpenter's
hammer at this hull side with only moderate power
and it went right through the hull side. |
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This balsa cored 60' Hatteras hull was
subjected to the ultimate test. Not only did it
take out two 16" pilings, but look what it
did to the concrete sea wall. The outer laminate
was breached but the inner laminate remained intact.
Compare this with the damage caused by a 4"
piling in the photo above. The yacht was capsized
by 175 MPH winds in the tuna tower, otherwise it
would not have sunk. |
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Incomplete bonding of the core to the outer
hull is one of the major problems encountered with
foam cored hulls. In this case, less than 50% of
the core was bonded, resulting in complete delamination
of the hull. Even where the bonding agent made contact
with the core, adhesion was poor to nonexistent. |
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The gunk pouring out of this hull is the
result of complete water saturation of the foam
core. Hydraulic action - panting of the inner and
outer skins - pulverized the foam and turned to
black mush. Once the foam degraded, the laminate
weakened and split open, sinking the boat. |
Go to Article
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