Plus, a one-off construction is going to come together much quicker for a wood/epoxy boat since the panels take their shape without mold and fair naturally. Oh, and did I mention that the core of that laminate is balsa wood? A cored laminate will weigh a little less than 5lb, which is nice but it will set us back $6.93 (60% more). In order to meet the strength/stiffness of this panel, we’ll have to spend $5.37 (20% more) for a chop-gun laminate and this will weigh 16lb (almost 2.5x more!). Built out of wood/epoxy, it will cost $4.40 and will weigh 7lb. Not to mention that the core is most of the time wood of some form… So out goes the maintenance-free dream.
The drawback is that it is time-consuming and therefore expensive to build. The solution to these two problems is to lay it in thicker, but fiberglass is heavy, as we’ll see in a minute.Ĭored laminate, on the other hand, is a good way to reduce weight it uses a core to separate the fiberglass skins. The problem with Chop gun is that the fibers are short (☑in.) and the thickness sprayed is not precise so the strength is limited and somewhat hard to predict. Wet chopped glass is sprayed into a mold and rolled down after a layer of gelcoat.Ĭored composite: Into a mold are laid gelcoat, outer-skin, core (balsa, plywood or foam) and inner skin. How much, and how heavy will this panel be out of the most common boat manufacturing laminates and how do they compare with wood/Epoxy?Ĭhop gun is the least expensive way to make a fiberglass boat. This panel is required to have a certain strength and stiffness. To compare apples with apples, let’s consider a panel from the bottom of a boat, 1ft by 1ft.
0 kommentar(er)
