On Jul 1, 3:04*pm, HK wrote:
Vic Smith wrote:
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:00:40 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

On Jul 1, 1:42 pm, HK wrote:
Zombie of Woodstock wrote:
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 10:09:24 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:
I'd like to see a true high tech wood composite. *Maybe bamboo
alternating with carbon fiber/ epoxy and then bamboo running at right
angles to the first. *This would be lighter and stronger than marine
ply. *On the outsides it would be skinned with a lighter glass than we
use for boats now like my Tolman.
It's called cold molding.
http://www.cwb.org/cold-molded-boat-building-2009
Been around for years.
Building a cold-moulded wood boat requires...well...the sort of skill
that comes from experience. But it does produce beautiful boats.
All glass boats are too heavy requiring too much fuel. *Aluminum boats
are good but welding them right requires more skill than most boat
companies can afford and they are difficult to repair.
Above the waterline, foam/glass is ok but below the water, no.
Loogy, I am not a ME but a physics geek. *Carbon fiber is currently
expensive and if such a boat was struck by lightning, the result would
be bizarre.

Since you're still interested in the subject I posted a response I had
written to Wayne but didn't bother sending.
In that "efficient boats" thread.
Some weight examples, and my view that FRP is still pretty heavy and a
new material is in order.
Pie in the sky, but maybe you can come up with something.

--Vic

Transparent aluminum, of course. :)

I'VE GOT IT. This uses a weird thing I found a few years ago. We
make the hull in a form out of carbon fiber mat. We connect that
carbon fiber to ground. We then pour in an electroplating solution,
maybe Ni but Cu would work too although I'd really like Al but it
doesnt exist......yet. We use Ni or Cu electrodes. The fibers get
coated with the metal and then fuse together forming a very thin shell
that has the stiffness of the metal but the tensile strength of the
carbon fiber. The fibers would "print through" so you might want a
lightweight "gel coat".
Practical.....well, no. Really cool, YES.