Thread: Hulls
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Old 01-13-2011, 08:09 PM   #17
O C Diver
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City: Fort Myers, FL... Summers in the Great Lakes
Vessel Name: Slow Hand
Vessel Model: Cherubini Independence 45
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 12,834
RE: Hulls

Quote:
Egregious wrote:

I think most people will agree that cored below the waterline is a BAD idea. Right or Wrong?
Wrong.

I think you can compare cored hulls to boats made of steel. Designed, built, and maintained correctly, they both have advantages and can have long life expectancies. As an example my Bruno & Stillman is 35 years old, and likely has run 3,000+ charter days in the Atlantic Ocean. The hull is still in great shape without core or blistering issues.

In contrast, there are cored boat models that are known to have issues either in fiberglass thickness or general construction. It is well known that some fiberglass hulls are likely to blister and others almost never do.

It's good to know if the boat you are interested in is known to have issues or not. In this economy with prices way down, a hull that's known to have issues can be had at a price that makes peeling and reglassing viable. One of the models I'm looking at is PVC cored and often needs to be peeled and reglassed. Cost runs between $20K and $30K. The end product is a hull that is significantly stronger than the original. If you can steal the boat for a great prices, it's a very viable option. I see this in the same way as buying a boat that needs to be repowered. If the savings on the boat is equal to much of the repower cost, you end up with a nice 20+ year old boat with a new engine.

Ted
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