I would like some advice on building a 14ft Javelin Sailing skiff.

I have looked on your web site and would like to ask the question on using Soric as a core material and your infusion system. I would like to build a new boat using your product but would like to know if this system is lighter than using standard high density foam.

I have asked llocal builder why they don’t use a infusion system and they tell me this is due to weight. Looking at the information on your site this may not be the case.

My current Javelin in a pre preg Carbon fibre boat and the construction of this is prefect how ever this needs to be done by a professional yacht builder due to the requirement of needing a oven large enough to put the boat in.

The current boat is very stiff the only other real issue I see with this building method is the boat can not take any impact. Currently all the boats are build using a high density foam these boats are racing boats and from time to time on the start line you will rub up against another boat all part of racing for this reason I am looking for another method of building a boat.

Could you give me some feedback on using Soric as a core material and using a infusion system to build a light weight strong boat.

We are currently looking at building the mould and I need to understand the lay up and the core material to proceed with this project. I have 20 weeks to complete this during the of season or Australian Perth winter I have sent a number of emails but no reply at this stage.

Any feedback from Easy Composites and members on the site would be welcomed

Best Regards

Rob

Hi Rob,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I only just noticed this post. Answers to your questions as follows:

I would like to build a new boat using your product but would like to know if this system is lighter than using standard high density foam.

The infusion process will produce a laminate of around the same resin content as pre-preg carbon fibre so there is no weight panalty to using the infusion process. You don't mention what process your local builder is using but if it's not pre-preg or resin infusion then I would imagine his laminate has a higher resin ratio and therefore he's got a heavier construction than pre-preg or infusion would be.

Could you give me some feedback on using Soric as a core material and using a infusion system to build a light weight strong boat.

Looking specifically at the Soric as a core material - due to the resin uptake of the soric there are lower density core materials available and so if you want the very lightest hull possible then Soric is not the right material. We use soric a lot because it has very good structural properties and is easy to use in infusion. Using a closed cell PVC core would be more difficult but because it has almost no resin uptake itself, it will result in a lighter composite.

Probably the best 'infusion compatible' low density core material that I've seen would be 3D|Core. We would like to distribute this material in the future but as yet we don't have an agreement in place but if you can get hold of it it's an amazing material, effectively like closed cell PVC foam in hexagons that are held together. I think this would be my recommended core material for an ultimately light, infused hull.

The current boat is very stiff the only other real issue I see with this building method is the boat can not take any impact. Currently all the boats are build using a high density foam these boats are racing boats and from time to time on the start line you will rub up against another boat all part of racing for this reason I am looking for another method of building a boat.

You don't describe quite what damage this causes but if the lightweight carbon hulls are actually getting punctures by this 'rubbing' then it might well be worth using carbon/twaron hybrid (like carbon kevlar but available in black so that it still looks like carbon but it's actually got the impact/abrasion resistance of kevlar too). We'll be listing carbon/twaron on our site from next week. Unlike carbon/kevlar it is totally UV stable and so is likely to become incredibly popular in boat building.

We are currently looking at building the mould and I need to understand the lay up and the core material to proceed with this project. I have 20 weeks to complete this during the of season or Australian Perth winter I have sent a number of emails but no reply at this stage.

I'm afraid I've not received your emails, otherwise I would have got back to you. I hope this helps you on your way.

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Hi Matt,

Thank you for your reply again we have only just picked up your reply we have started the project and have come up with a design. WE dropped the idea of infusion due to not having a clear ubderstanding of the core material.

We have spent all weekend cutting out the frames and we now have a plan based on a standard lay up using Male frame laying this up with core materail of 8mm and hand laying the out side using epoxy at this stage we may just run with a standard E glass  2 layers of 200g cloth.

If the boat works out to be a good fast design we will use this as a plug for future boats. At this stage we have not locked down the core material only the size.

The damage to the boats that I mentioned happens when the core compressors and you then see delimitation between the outer layer and the core.

I have one boat that was built many years ago which has Kevlar on the inside of the boat at this stage I have not seen Kevlar used on the outside skin?

The local builder is doing a hand lay up using epoxy and the vacuum bagging the boat in a female mould they are starting to use different core material. They are telling me to use Core Cell T500.

Thank you for your feedback on the Soric as a core material. As stated we dropped this idea but your feedback now puts this out of my mind all together.

Next weekend we will build the strong back and we will then mount all the frames 13 off these will be spaced 350mm apart once this is done we will have some idea how the finished lines of the boat will look.

Once again thanks for your feedback we still have a lot of use for infusion and will work on finding a concept to try this on e.g. Centre boards or rudder blades. In the mean time we are away with this project.

Best Regards

Rob Thomas

Hi Rob,