Which Hull Material is BEST: Fiberglass | Sailing Wisdom
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
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This is the 5th in a 5 Part Series on Hull Materials.
Fiberglass boats became popular in the 1960's and have since become the staple hull material of choice. Fiberglass quickly replaced wood as the standard hull material and soon, any hull other than fiberglass was considered "alternative".
Fiberglass itself has evolved over the years to become the well-known material of modern boat construction. In this episode, I interview Matt from @MJSailing to pick his brain on why he chose fiberglass as his hull material of choice for the new catamaran he is building.
0:00 Intro
0:27 Fiberglass Hulls with Matt from MJ Sailing
0:40 Fiberglass vs. Aluminum Boats
3:03 No Core, Foam Core, and Balsa Core Hulls
5:32 What happens to your boat in a collision?
9:29 What is the repair process like?
12:09 Pros of Fiberglass Hulls
13:21 Cons of Fiberglass Hulls
14:38 Maintenance on a Fiberglass Boat
15:25 Blisters and Osmosis
16:30 Things to look for and things to avoid with a Fiberglass Hull
19:40 Outro
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Well.thats the right guy to ask about fiberglass!Great video-hope to see more like these
This series was very eye opening to make!
Two years ago I helped my friend on Britican at a boatyard for a 6 day maintenance and bottom paint job.
One of the things on the list were through holes.
An Oyster 56 has a 35-40mm grp hull, no core. Okay she is a heavy displacement boat at 35 ton.
Great video, I enjoy this serie.
That is a heavy boat! But also a lot of boat too 😎
@@RiggingDoctor Oysters are magnificent boats. This 56 is also fast, previous owner wanted to race her so she is fast, close hauled 4m waves still doing 9 knots and carving through the waves like they are not there. 11+ knots beam reach. No wonder she beats many cats. I agree it is a lot of boat, just to polish the stainless takes 2-3 days. Britican was my first experience on a modern heavy displacement boat and it put me in team heavy boats.
Great interview with Matt, Herb. Among all the owners of FRP boats, you picked one that has a trusted perspective on the subject. Well done!
Thanks!
This was your best video by far in this series. That guy knows what he is talking about when it comes to fiberglass and aluminum. That said a modern TIG welder for doing repairs on an aluminum boat is quite compact and can be easily carried aboard.. Power requirements are easy to meet. You can do many repairs with a 115 20 amp VAC circuit if you have the right welder.Carrying the bottle(s) of argon is much more of an issue. As he said repairing fiberglass is easy with minimal tools (angle grinder). Structural repairs are simple, but cosmetics is much more fussy. Good video.
I saved the best for last!
If you're not good at fiberglass.. you will be...!
OR your giant investment will be sunk...!
Standing water on horizontal decks & fixtures can destroy a gel coat.. deadly bc they're difficult to detect, especially in the early stages.. unless you want to remove every winch, & embedded piece of Chrome & stress test every stantion?
More likely you will uncover the instability during a gale force headwind, in the dark 🕶️ ?
w aluminum twin rudder.. running up on shore is done like dinner 🌮 🌮 & I'm sure that keeping plenty of sacrificial anodes & sliding an extra 1/2 sheets of aluminum under the mattress is doable.✅
This video is a treasure
I've been following MJ Sailing and their build.
Oyster..A company that went bankrupt when one of their yachts on delivery lost its keel have their say about Fibreglass..Another company that experienced problems wit FG is Nautor Swan
By far the best of the series but also highlights that there is such huge variation within each material (and of age generations) that generalisations (wood, GRP, Aluminium, Steel) don't take us very far forward. There is also a lot of cross over eg between a GRP boat with wood core or a wood boat sheathed in GRP.
For example with GRP there are different core options: no core, balsa core, foam core. Then there are multiple resin types, other construction details (stringers, GRP liner or other framing). Cloth type (chopped strand, biaxial, unidirectional) and material (glass, Kevlar, carbon fibre etc)
The story is similar for wood with many different construction methods and materials.
Then there are the combinations such as Magic Carpet 2 (GRP Hull, timber deck beams with GRP sheathed ply deck).
All of them they are just crap!
Oyster..A company that went bankrupt when one of their yachts on delivery lost its keel have their say about Fibreglass..Another company that experienced problems wit FG is Nautor Swan
@@bergssprangare our preference is for an encapsulated keel so no worries about it falling off (although of course there are potential different concerns).
Great video once again. Each person so far gives the pro's and cons of their hull type and if you take all of them together you can get a good idea of what is going to be your best choice
My favorite part is everyone is happy on their hull, so there doesn’t seem to be a choice that will “ruin your happiness” if you go with the wrong material.
Thanks for the series of vlogs about materials. It has been a great learning experience.
You are very welcome
Great video and great guy with a lot of knowledge. Thanks.
Matt is incredible!
Good video for someone just getting into a sailboat. Barrier coat was a life saver of the first sailboat I purchased.
Glad he mentioned that.
He was very knowledgeable on the topic!
Brilliant video idea and Great to have Matt as an interview for the topic!
Thanks!
The newer fiberglass is pretty impressive. The older ones the stringers across the hull would rot out in about 20yrs, on my 1988 Bayliner it did. Merry Christmas to the both of you.
As was said in the video, quality boats don't have problems cheap boats do. I see 1960s vintage Hinckleys that are as strong as the day they were built all the time. Heck, even the glass in my 1972 Allied is still just fine.
Different builds last different times, but the glass of the hull seems to remain timeless!
Great video - very informative
Thanks!
I'm attracted to the idea of building a sailboat, so, at least in my case, your videos address the issues I'm most interested in; the hows and whys for all the choices that can be made for a boat. Good stuff. High five.
Building a boat is such a noble practice, in my opinion.
You are not only building a boat, but you are building the attainment of dreams!
I think what I liked about this guy is that he had experience with multiple materials. I've heard things about wood, worm problems. Fero-cemment is heavy but tough. Steel rusts. Aluminum corrodes. Fiberglass Cracks . Each material can have a problem of some kind. Wooden Bulkheads, they are terrible, there must be another way to do that bulkhead thing ?
Foam core fiberglass is a rot proof alternative 😉
I really liked his insight as well. Someone who says “I like fiberglass but I’ve only ever had fiberglass” is less valuable of an opinion than someone who likes fiberglass and has experience with a different hull material.
@@RiggingDoctor Yes, definitely, I like folks with a wider view. Merry Christmas.
Great series. Merry Christmas
Thanks! Merry Christmas to you too 🎅🏻
I loved MJ sailing, their videography was great and they had wonderful personalities. I unsubscribed when they started building a cat, not because I'm a boat snob but because after watching Mads rebuild Athena I just couldn't stomach watching another boat build series. Best of luck to them and I may subscribe when they're back on the water.
He’s building quickly so it will only be a few years :)
Well balanced explanation. As much as people complain about blisters they honestly don’t sink you or even slow your speed. The early hulls were overbuilt as most were treated like wooden hull thickness in building, great value for a permanent home. Just the under-built production gets it a bad name.
We have a blister that we plan to fix this next haul out. I’ve seen it for the past few years but have never had the time to take care of it.
It’s not a harm so also not the highest priority!
Great video.
Thanks!
Hola feliz noche buena. Saludos Iberians. Saludos a Puerto Rico
Felicidades!
I've been watching Matt & Jessica for a few years. For the past four - six months or so they have been building a Cat from a kit in a tent. Very capable craftsman, very knowledgable as they have been explaining in detail each step as they go. They also point out the type of glass they are using. :¬) Webhead USA
⬆️ how many people? That's all they want you to see. Get real.
@STEVEN R I don’t understand what you are getting at here?
Yeah, I'd much rather have a aluminum or steel boat, and I would spend the $1k to get a AC/DC TIG welder and some spare plate to use for holes. But that's just me being a hobby/artistic metalworker being significantly more comfortable working with metal.
The best material is one you know how to fix yourself!
Thanks for a great interview with Matt. Timely too with demonstrations of the build with their new boat.
Plastic composites are a great material, but unfortunately putting more plastics into the environment is a bad thing.
I understand and I’m torn on this.
If the boat is well built, it will last for thousands of years, but so many manufacturers are building them so flimsy that pieces of the boat will last forever but not as a boat.
It would be really beautiful of wooden boats would make a resurgence.
@@RiggingDoctor Agree with all your points.
Wood is cool, but highly impractical IMO, and requires a ton of maintenance.
Steel rusts.
To me the most viable option is Aluminum. It can be highly durable since the oxide layer protects it. It's highly recyclable and recycled. It's mostly made using renewable energy, specifically hydroelectricity in Canada and Scandinavia. Really it's the least bad solution, and has a lot of positives. I'd like to see some revolutions in how boats are made with it however.
As with composites, current construction techniques for steel and Aluminum are highly labor intensive, and that's why they all cost so much.
To be a bit more clear, above I'm talking about solid wood.
Fiberglass over plywood, which is a lot more common today, is sort of a hybrid, with some strength and most structure coming from the plywood core, but the plastic issues of other plastic composites.
It also shares the potential core rot problems of balsa cored plastic composites.
That said, plywood construction is cool from a low-tech, mold-less, DIY-friendly construction technique. In principle anyone can build a plywood boat and glass it over. And many shapes are possible, but mostly with flat or curved planes.
But it's still putting plastic into the environment.
I was surprised by the favorable comments about using core on a fiberglass boat. I have heard many different comments in the past and understand high-end yacht manufacturers do not use it. I'd welcome clarifications on that. Thanks for the video!
Everyone building performance boats uses core because it’s stronger at less weight. If you hit something, the repairs are also more involved because the core needs attention.
Solid hulls are insanely heavy, so bad for performance (if performance is light air racing and not heavy weather sailing) and incredibly resilient after a collision. As long as the hull didn’t crack, you can keep on going without a worry on a solid hull.
Personally, our boat has a solid hull and down near the keel it’s 3.5 inches thick! It weighs 36,000 lbs and floats on a 32 foot waterline. Rather heavy for her size and slow in light air, but I wouldn’t want to cross an ocean on something lighter that would need a lot of work after a collision. We have seen too many trees and other big junk floating just at the surface out in the middle of the ocean. Sadly, we have bumped into a few things that we never saw at night too. A loud bump followed by a bilge check and we keep on crossing the ocean without a worry!
Hello FELIZ NOCHE BUENA. SALUDOS IBERIANS SALUDOS A PUERTO RICO
Hola! Muchas gracias!
I to, I like MJ chanel! The couple personality, behave like angels. But Mat forgoten TOTALY the biggest fiberglas disatwantage of all! And that is FIRE! EVEN WORST THEN WOOD!!!
Good point, but no matter the hull a fire at sea means that you are probably going to die ☠️
@@RiggingDoctor that is not the goal of your program! It is, which hull material is wisdom!
Most aluminum and steel are then insulated and woodwork built in. From my observations all boats are fully sustainable to fire for the contents and furnishings alone.
Electrical, now battery devices 1# issue.
Most recent full loss boat fire was a cheap lithium device in storage.
Personaly I consider my fire danger relatively low in my wooden vessel. If we are discussing the hull not the deck house or inbuild.
so, you make the bulk hull/complete frame of the catamaran from foam board aswell and than laminate it with fiberglass? and how many layers should be working to get the job done?
That is all up to the naval architect who designed the boat. Some areas need more layers, other areas have fewer layers to save weight.
The double bottom is fantastic in many ways. Just wondering about when happens if you suspect there has been damage. How do you inspect the compartment when there might be damage? How do you do a repair to the inside of one of those compartments? I'd like to see a section of each compartment as an opening that is bolted onto a seal.
To inspect, you can dive onder the boat to check damage. As for repairs, you will have to haul out for major repairs. Small dings could be repaired under water.
Putting hatches in the boat would result in problems with major damage. More likely to flood the hull. Seals fail.
@@terryroth9707 I guess it is where you choose to compromise. This way you can't know if there is damage until you can dive and you can't patch from inside. But bigger damage is less likely to cause total failure and the hull is stronger.
Yep. It’s like airbags in a car: you know they are there and hope they work but you never check on them for the life of the car.
One day, you might find out how they are doing!
@@RiggingDoctor exactly.
Having found lots of issues with parts of our boat that have been hidden for 45 years I'm quite uncomfortable with creating areas that can't be inspected or repaired.
Seeing this video, i think you should interview Acorn to Arabella or Sampson Boat Co. On their wooden hull builds.
They would be great sources!
Just to split a few hairs, it is GRP, Glass Reinforced Plastic, unless it is carbon fiber reinforced plastic!
Very true :)
Not seen all I admit, but I also start think what whit the envoriment? Inpact whit the different material, both in build fase and when the boat are worn out, steal and aluminium is to use again, but fiberglass? And what whit wrecks? Sunken plast and fiberglass boats?
The wrecks are a bog issue with fiberglass. They stuff will stay around for thousands of years!
@@RiggingDoctor - That is my fear, yes. And the wage and work conditions for some glass fiber boats. There is a reason they are so cheap. Compared to EU build, steel and Aluminum boats.
I like wood but a goods things about fiberglass are rot resistance and really remarkable tolerance of uv light.
I too appreciate wooden boats from my fiberglass boat.
Not completely correct UV are speed up crystalizzation process within the GRP which is a process alive throughout vessel life
👍👍👍
😉
The main reason fiberglass dominates is because it is the easiest method to use to get compound curves. Once the molds are made, it takes a shocking low amount of man-hours to get a hull.
The one fiberglass boat I owned, I waxed three times a season. Once before launching. Once mid-season. And once before winter storage.
I didn't have access to clean water, so I used the somewhat dirty river water. It didn't shine as brightly as it could have, but the boat ended up looking half the age of a five-year-old boat that was really half my boat's age.
Fiberglass is the hull material I chose to buy and live on. 9 years later, it just keeps on going strong (and she’s over 50 years old now).
Fiberglass or aluminum hosed with closed cell foam.
They make great hulls!
@@RiggingDoctoragreed. I have had aluminum and fiberglass and they both lasted forever. The aluminum was sprayed with closed cell and when I forgot the plug it would just be out the floating. I would wade out, start the bilge pump, make breakfast and by the time breakfast was over the boat would be ready for fun! I would definitely stay away from wood core or steal. I had the wood transom rot out on one boat and it was a nightmare to replace.
Old fiberglass hulls tend to be waaay overbuilt the therefore never get stress cycled they last forever. My Westerly Pageant is built like a tank.
Hehe agreed there i have a 73 year Kings Cruiser 29 and i am dreading to make a through hole for a depth transducer.. i need a bigger stronger drill haha
@@SailingAnja I will never drill a hole in a boat more stuff to worry about.
@@DavidPaulNewtonScott Exactly why i am thinking of a transon transducer haha.. i don't like holes in my boat :P
I have closed up all the through hulls I can, so far we only have two. One for the Air Conditioner, and one for the galley discharge.
I made all the other discharges above the waterline (even when we heel) and it’s still a chore to drill through the hull!
@@RiggingDoctor We are down to two (cockpit drains as we have a centre cockpit). Will add one inlet which will be used for watermaker, galley, deck wash. All will be inside a coffer dam (and they are all TruDesign). That means we have filled 10 holes so far.
Hmm. Sounds like a Fair Weather choice
That’s their plan. After Norway, they are done looking for storms and now want to sail where it’s nice.
I like glass boats but hell if I'll get on a glass cat those things well put you in the newspaper!
For going too fast?
@@RiggingDoctor yep they're fast I believe one holds the world's record in speed but they seem to like flipping.
Coring below water line - not. Fiberglass, thick and old, Yes!
I agree with you there, but I’m on a boat from 1968 😎
. 1981 leaky teaky tank
It's break... And never get back to previous structural strength
It takes a lot of grinding and reglassing to bring it back up to spec
@@RiggingDoctor yes a lot of grinding 🤣...about the specs, what specs? How you can measure the specs? Who will assess it? According to what? please mention rule and reference...
Steel is real, I can ram anything with no damage, maybe a small dent. If I am at anchor and some clown t bones my boat the damage is minimal.
It’s like a plastic bottle hitting a tank 🤣
The only new paint to touch my GRP sailboat in 15 years is antifouling. How does steel compare?
HDPE is the best hull material
Do you have any examples of large boats built with this that I could look into?
Sorry Herbie. Those people give me the creeps. Even though they’re fellow Michiganders
😂
But he is still a good resource on fiberglass construction.
🤦🤷 only one opinion. Come now.
One opinion of someone who knows how to work and repair the stuff; that’s the difference 😉
Doesn't even discuss solid fibreglass. Sorry there's no way I'd trust cored.
He did for a moment. Basically that it’s super heavy to have the same strength.
I cruise on a 1968 solid glass hull. Never have to worry about coring issues 😎
@@RiggingDoctor exactly. And on a sea boat, heavy is not bad. It adds comfort.