Foam Core Hull

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

...

What I said was that sailboats have a grace, a charm, a history and elegance about them that catamarans and trimarans all lack.

Edit.
All our great discovers and explorations in the west has been done with sailboats, not gloried rafts / party barges with sails. Just a little history! In fact, we still use sailboats to explore with, right now in the northern hemisphere

It seems you did not notice that what makes a sailboat is them using sails and wind for propulsion nothing more.

What is the point in being monohulls the oldest type of sailboats? Wait, I got it, it is oldest therefore it is better?

[Van Der Beek]

Originally Posted by Polux

It seems you did not notice that what makes a sailboat is them using sails and wind for propulsion nothing more.

That's not correct, unless Kon-Tiki was a sailboat of course. Which it was not, it was a raft with sail.

As I said, sailboats are all monohull. Anything else is either a catamaran or a trimaran, also known as glorified rafts / party barges with sails.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

You are most welcome.



I don't recall having made the claim that sailboats came first.

What I said was that sailboats have a grace, a charm, a history and elegance about them that catamarans and trimarans all lack.

Edit.
All our great discovers and explorations in the west has been done with sailboats, not gloried rafts / party barges with sails. Just a little history! In fact, we still use sailboats to explore with, right now in the northern hemisphere

You are no doubt entitled to your opinion, but I find our catamaran to be more elegant and graceful than 90% of the monohulls out there, and we also out sail 90% of the monohulls. The other 10% of the monohulls are really nice. I also don't consider our catamaran to be a party barge


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

Yes, I understand that you like catamarans more than sailboats.

Thanks for editing my post to include catamarans and trimarans.....and proas!


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Van Der Beek]

Originally Posted by smj

Thanks for editing my post to include catamarans and trimarans.....and proas!

I'm not a moderator so I cannot edit your posts.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

I'm not a moderator so I cannot edit your posts.

Then a moderator changed the wording of monohull to sailboat on my post. Must be bored


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

I'm envious of multihulls so I cannot edit your posts.

Testing


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

I'm not a moderator so I cannot edit your posts.

Looks like you can!


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Van Der Beek]

Originally Posted by smj

Testing

My post still looks the same.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

My post still looks the same.

Gotta love the moderators


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

My post still looks the same.

Not on my devices


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Van Der Beek]

Originally Posted by smj

Gotta love the moderators


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

I think we are a bit off topic anyway haha.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

I think we are a bit off topic anyway haha.

Your right, enjoy your sailboat and I will try to enjoy my party boat/ raft


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[OrangeCrush]

I'm not an expert like some on this forum but I think people have done a good job laying out the pros and cons. The Southern Cross 39 was on my short list for purchase and I did a fair amount of research. You may have come across these anecdotes already but here is what I remember specific to that boat... I'm sure if you dig around you will see the same thing.

First, they apparently made a "mistake" in their layup schedule which resulted in both layers (on either side of the core) being thick enough to be a single solid GRP hull on their own. The downside to this would be weight but the boat reportedly performs well.

I've heard of no problems with the Airex foam on Southern Cross boats, and very few problems with Airex from that era in general. It doesn't get saturated like a wood core. It was experimental at the time, but 35 years later I think it's safe to say it was a good choice of core material.

Beyond being more impact resistant in a major collisions, the Airex core may also have resulted in less vulnerability to little dings and dents. One story had someone hitting their Southern Cross with a hammer and it bouncing off with no ill effects. (But maybe you don't wanna try that yourself). Reportedly many Southern Cross hulls still look like new.

The SC I looked at had a leaky rudder tube, so you may want to check that out. The only downside to the design for me was the unprotected prop. In the end I ended up with a solid GRP hull which I think is generally a better choice. But I consider the Southern Cross 39 to be an excellent boat and the airex core would definitely not be a dealbreaker and possibly even be considered a plus. A soggy deck is a different story...

I also bought a $40 moisture meter and $10 rubber hammer on Amazon which saved me from two boats with rotten decks and confirmed the dryness of the boat I ended up with. You don't get a survey before you make an offer, so I think it's very wise to learn how to do that yourself. Read up on how to use the moisture meter, but you don't need an expensive marine model for it to be effective.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by OrangeCrush

I'm not an expert like some on this forum but I think people have done a good job laying out the pros and cons. The Southern Cross 39 was on my short list for purchase and I did a fair amount of research. You may have come across these anecdotes already but here is what I remember specific to that boat... I'm sure if you dig around you will see the same thing.

First, they apparently made a "mistake" in their layup schedule which resulted in both layers (on either side of the core) being thick enough to be a single solid GRP hull on their own. The downside to this would be weight but the boat reportedly performs well.

I've heard of no problems with the Airex foam on Southern Cross boats, and very few problems with Airex from that era in general. It doesn't get saturated like a wood core. It was experimental at the time, but 35 years later I think it's safe to say it was a good choice of core material.

Beyond being more impact resistant in a major collisions, the Airex core may also have resulted in less vulnerability to little dings and dents. One story had someone hitting their Southern Cross with a hammer and it bouncing off with no ill effects. (But maybe you don't wanna try that yourself). Reportedly many Southern Cross hulls still look like new.

The SC I looked at had a leaky rudder tube, so you may want to check that out. The only downside to the design for me was the unprotected prop. In the end I ended up with a solid GRP hull which I think is generally a better choice. But I consider the Southern Cross 39 to be an excellent boat and the airex core would definitely not be a dealbreaker and possibly even be considered a plus. A soggy deck is a different story...

I also bought a $40 moisture meter and $10 rubber hammer on Amazon which saved me from two boats with rotten decks and confirmed the dryness of the boat I ended up with. You don't get a survey before you make an offer, so I think it's very wise to learn how to do that yourself. Read up on how to use the moisture meter, but you don't need an expensive marine model for it to be effective.

I doubt it was a mistake on the hull thickness as I owned an early Tartan 44 with a cored hull and it was similar in that both sides of the sandwich were around the same thickness as today's single hull boats. They just didn't have the engineering at the time..