no no no no
Those older hand laid boats are of INFERIOR strength in comparison to
'modern' composites.
The problem with older hand laid boats is that the layup crew only
worked 8 hours per day, leaving the various schedules to 'cure' before
applying the next layers. Plus if the layers got too thick the heat
generated accelerated the cure and forced a 'rest' until the substrate
returned to 'normal' temperatures.

Just about everone nowadays will agree that new polyester doesnt adhere
to 'old' cured polyester.

So the resulr was poor bond strength between the layers of layup ----
comparatively POOR structure. Plus by itself polyester resin isnt very
strong and the lay-ups contained "too much resin" - another
'weakening'.

Nowadays, good yards will use refrigeration and will continuously
lay-up until the job is completely done - nonstop. Plus, they employ
vacuum bagging, etc. which ensures the correct ratio of glass to resin
- yields the strongest (probably longest lasting) structure..

Cosmetically, gelcoat is very porous and unless continuously waxed to
seal the 'pores' will ultimately oxidize very deep into the gel ......
'aligator' (micro-cracks). Plus the wax will ultimately change
chemical composition and then increase the oxidiation of the gelcoat.
The remedy for life preservation of surface gelcoat is to wax often and
also 'strip' and remove the old dead wax periodically by 'caustic
strippers', then rewax. The 'stripping' probably needed at every 18
months minimum ....... or ultimately the gelcoat will oxidize deeply
and then you form 'alligatoring'' - but you need at least a pocket
microscope to find it.



In article , Larry
wrote:

Courtney Thomas wrote in
news
what's
gonna kill 'er ?



The old fiberglass boats were made of many layers of carefully hand-laid
fiberglass, glass mat saturated with epoxy. But, as the accountants
replaced the boat builders when outside companies, like Brunswick for
instance, bought up the company names the boat builders had carefully
guarded with high quality hulls, the accountants started whittling away at
costs trying to squeeze every profit dollar they could out of the boats.
Quality, of course, suffered. Boat hulls became thinner and thinner. We
could save a bundle if we stopped using fiberglass, which is expensive, so
much. Hulls, like the decks above them, became cored with all kinds of
crap from foam to plywood to balsa wood to something now that looks like
putty (http://www.yachtsurvey.com/Fiberglass_Boats.htm shows what Sea Ray
has done, gelcoat on the outside, putty then one lay of fiberglass trying
to fool the surveyors into thinking it's fiberglass. Look at the pictures.
It ain't fiberglass, much)

Boaters, some of the cheapest cheapskates on the planet, always looking for
a real bargain, fell in love with the cheapest of the cheap, Bayliner,
which is SO successful it nearly put the others, the quality small boats,
out of business. Boaters share in the blame for what the hulls have
become...

New boats made of poprivets, putty and plastic are designed to last to the
end of the payment books....like everything else America creates.

Pieces of CRAP!