I was interested to see the wreck of a Joint Services Victoria 34 (Ensis)
in
Cherbourg last year.

I spotted that too. Full of shingle. Any idea what happened??? Did you
spot the steel boats nearby? Suffered massive impact but still bent but
sailable.


Yes I did see her - a similar thing happened once to my dad with his steel
boat. Somebody hit her hard whilst she was unattended on a mooring. Made a
right mess but because she only bent she didn't sink. He's pretty sure any
wood/GRP boat would have been lost. Never found out who did it either.

A story goes that Ensis was trying to get into Cherbourg in poor visibility
and missed, hitting the rocks on the shore. They didn't know what they'd hit
and abandoned ship to the liferaft but pretty quickly realised they could
stand up. I imagine somebody got her out quite sharpish, but there were a
lot of bits missing when I saw her in June.

There was a sleeping bag right by the hole - the guy in that must have had
quite a fright!

Adrian Smith wrote:
How long should a modern GRP hull lasts as compared to one made 10 years
ago?


The material, design, type & execution of the lay-up will
matter a lot more than whether it popped out of the mold
last week or 10 years ago.

About the only maintenance issue is if it's cored, then the
skins must stay bonded to the core and no water should be
allowed in (ie deck fittings properly thru bolted & bedded).

If you're talking *only* about the structural integrity of a
fiberglass hull & deck, it should last forever within a
certain range of stress. The more strongly it's built, the
wider range of stress it can take. Once it is loaded /
stressed enough to break a few of the bonds within the
lamination, it is said to be "fatigued" just like metal that
gets bent back & forth. Fiberglass has some advantages over
metal in that it can bend further without fatigue, and can
accumulate a higher number of fatigue cycles, but that
number is not infinite. Another good thing about fiberglass
is that it's relatively easy to re-bond bulkheads & other
structural members inside.



And how old is considered too old when taking a boat offshore into potential
rough conditions?


The old-fogey brigade will insist that older is better, for
a number of reasons. Old fashioned hull & rigs can be more
seakindly (altho old running rigging & deck fittings can be
awful to cope with). Some will even claim that 'back in the
old days' the boat builders did not know how strong
fiberglass was, so they made it incredibly thick & strong.
The fact is that engineering data was available on
fiberglass from the early 1950s on, readily available to
those who cared to look... is ignorance a good excuse?
Another fact is that resin/fiber ratios in many older hulls
is poor.

It's more of an issue about the functioning of all
systems... rig, plumbing, electrical, electronic (if any)
than the age of the hull.

Hope this clears some things up.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

You should compare modern GRP to boats made in
the 1960's through the early 1970's. Those hulls will
last 100 years or longer. They will certainly outlive you.

There is not enough data on newer hulls. However,
as long as you patch the cracks they should last just
as long--assuming you make it back to a travel lift
in time.

Although an argument could be made that flexing absorbs
energy, however, I find the concept disquieting.

Still, in either case, failures will occur due to repetitive
stresses. A solid hull in general will last longer than one
that will oil can. BTW, the SCRIMP boats seem
particularly strong.

I hope you are not thinking of taking that day sailor
offshore! Before you do that you should hitch a ride
a few trips to 1) see if you like it, 2) see if you can
handle the puking.

Finally, you need to stop cross posting if you want
answers in here.

"Adrian Smith" wrote
How long should a modern GRP hull lasts as compared to one made 10 years
ago?

And how old is considered too old when taking a boat offshore into
potential rough conditions?