27-03-2017, 06:00 PM
You make me feel lazy. I am far less physically active these days and I sometimes wonder if my sports activities in the past just wore me out.
I have worked with fibreglass too. I tend to work in fits and starts. Last Summer I worked well so hopefully this year will be decisive. These days inland people just want steel boats but I am wary now the costs have escalated. My steel boat was replated some years ago (before I bought it) and I have trapped water between the original base and the new layer. They only can weldd the circumference so really it's a dodgy solution to a worn hull. The trapped water is basically creeping bilge water. The best approach I saw to date was a Californian who had everything done in epoxy. Where I am they use bitumen but the sheer scale of wear on hulls shows replating is inevitable over time.
Today if I built a boat I guess I'd use plywood as a core. Sure steel is fine but boatbuilders don't do enough to protect from corrosion (like coating plate inside and out)
I have worked with fibreglass too. I tend to work in fits and starts. Last Summer I worked well so hopefully this year will be decisive. These days inland people just want steel boats but I am wary now the costs have escalated. My steel boat was replated some years ago (before I bought it) and I have trapped water between the original base and the new layer. They only can weldd the circumference so really it's a dodgy solution to a worn hull. The trapped water is basically creeping bilge water. The best approach I saw to date was a Californian who had everything done in epoxy. Where I am they use bitumen but the sheer scale of wear on hulls shows replating is inevitable over time.
Today if I built a boat I guess I'd use plywood as a core. Sure steel is fine but boatbuilders don't do enough to protect from corrosion (like coating plate inside and out)
