"Heart of Glass" history of fibreglass boatbuilding
 

I've just go this book out of the Ottawa public library. Its a history of
(polyester) fibregalss boats published in 2000. Very interesting.

Of particular interest to boatbuilders is the list of causes of osmosis
and blisters. There's no single cause and that makes diagnosis and repair of
any particular hull challenging. A survey was done apparent causes and the
percentages reported for each is listed in the text.

Also of interest is a photo of a glass and carbon fibre reinforced resin
spinnaker pole which broke due to the different coefficients of
elasiticity of the reinforcing fibres.

Quite a bit is written about the finacial risks in the boatbuilding business.

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