Fiberglass Hull Life Span ??

[sarafina]

Originally Posted by minaret

Switzerland, actually. The first ferro boat ever built was actually sunk in Lake Geneva for over a hundred years before she was raised again, still in good shape.

Oh... Didn't realize we were counting the ones that SANK! LOL

[Astral Blue]

Originally Posted by minaret

Wow, I've replaced a whole lot of Bayliner transoms and stringers. Penetrating epoxy is NOT a proper fix for this. The transom core and stringers will certainly not outlast the rest of the boat. The only way to properly fix that is to cut out the wet rotten material and replace it with material that doesn't rot. We live in Bayliner central, I have had many employees that got their start at the Bayliner factory. The guy who ran their production floor for the last twenty years is my neighbor...

The transom core was replaced with marine plywood. The stringers were replaced with kiln dried white oak. Penetrating resins were used on both the transom and stringers prior to being glassed and gelcoated.

Here are some pics of the transom project.

[Bash]

It's probably. A good idea to check the record of any older boat with others manufactured by the same yard or factory. For example, there were a few years when Defever built their above-deck structures with non-marine ply that had been manufactured with a water-soluble glue. Bad scene, even though the hulls themselves are still rock-solid. Easy enough to find out what years to avoid.

[anotherT34C]

When I see what wooden boat owners do on a regular basis, I can't help but think that we glass boat owners are a bunch of crybabies. We sometimes act like its the end of the world (or boat) when we have to recore the deck, or paint the hull.

I also hear things like "a flexed glass boat loses X% of its strength and integrity". Ok, fine, but what we really need to know isn't what % of integrity the hull has lost, but rather whether the remaining integrity is seaworthy or not.

I would guess that a well constructed and maintained fiberglass boat should last indefinitely. I think the principal "problem" is that glass boats are so plentiful and cheap, that the economics of repair vs replace skews to the latter fairly quickly. My little Tartan probably has a realistic replacement value of $30K in pristine condition. If it ever found itself in a state where it needed a new motor, new rigging, and a deck core job all simultaneously, it would probably find itself in a landfill. That's just the economics.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Astral Blue

The transom core was replaced with marine plywood. The stringers were replaced with kiln dried white oak. Penetrating resins were used on both the transom and stringers prior to being glassed and gelcoated.

Here are some pics of the transom project.

Whew! Sorry, I've seen too many people with a very optimistic idea of the capabilities of penetrating epoxy....

[GaryMayo]

Flip a coin. Some land heads, some tails. Even in one boat manufacturer, one cannot predict which boats will last. Far too many factors come into play.

If you have a 70's fiberglass boat by a renowned builder like William Crealock, or other builders of that quality, you have a pretty good chance of your coin toss bet coming up a winner. Those boats were over-built because they did not yet know where to stop building and have a good product.

My fiberglass Clipper Marine 32 aft cabin ketch has zero blisters, no delamination, no soft spots, no cracking, no discoloration, no nothing sometimes seen in fiberglass boats. Some of that is the world class designer, William Crealock, some of that is maintance, some the waters, some of that is trailer time, a great deal of that is a big fat coin toss.

I am 55 years old, any my yacht looks to be going to outlive me by a whole bunch and then some. Wish my hull was as blister free as my fiberglass sailboat!

Maintance, proper care, and a little luck. .

[Astral Blue]

Originally Posted by minaret

Whew! Sorry, I've seen too many people with a very optimistic idea of the capabilities of penetrating epoxy....

Git-Rot (or other such resins and epoxies) has its place, and being in critical structural areas such as the transom and stringers is not one of them. I briefly considered replacing the transom with Seacast, but found no advantages in doing so. So, the traditional plywood with West System products was the way to go.

[SkiprJohn]

The Chinook 34 has been around since the very early 60s or late 50s and I just saw one advertised the other day for sale for $6000. If I was in the boat buying mood I'd jump on it.
kind regards,

[bobconnie]

Our new to us boat is Epoxy and glass beads, over a steel bar frame, 30 yrs old, no blisters of course, no delamination, no anything as per the best surveyer in the area who inspected it !Of course it has not been used much in the last 15 yrs, it has been yard maintained, with yearly haul outs and bottom paint, ect. The surveyer feels it is as sound or maybe sounder then anything he has surveyed in the last 20 yrs !! Yes it has some minor things that need repair! as all boats do, but we feel it will out last us LOL (at my age im sure of this LOL) at the price we were able to buy it at , we can do the needed work our selfs or have a yard do them and still be way under a new boat cost, and have a home thats strong and sails well !! all I can say is theres nothing bad about an old boat if it's been taken care of !! Thats my 2 cents