Boat structures 101

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by FLexpat

. . . I’m probably going to be placing an order for ½” Corecell in a couple of weeks for replacing the deck cores. . .

Good info Mitch! Pascoe seems to agree that Core-Cell is one of the best foams. This article is now about 10 years old, so I would assume we would have heard something by now if there were any problems with it.

I have a neighbor, who along with a partner, claims to have invented Core-Cell; I believe he said they began production of it in Switzerland. He claims to be an expert in composite construction, and with a partner, founded Affinity Yachts. They built the 90' sportfish/yacht using Core-Cell throughout, even in the bottom! He claims the 90' yacht is the Ferrari of it's class and about the same weight as a 70' Viking, with similar performance, and a good example of what can be done with extensive use of composites. However the quoted 2500 mile range is at about 10 kts; at a 30 kt cruise, range on 5000 gallons of fuel is about 900 miles! They mention that carbon fiber is used in it's construction, so maybe they used that to for impact resistance; I'd worry about hitting something like a shipping container at 30 kts in a boat that big with a cored hull! "El Lobo" was moored behind his house for a few weeks and a few of us got a tour of it . . . definitely a fancy yacht with all the bells & whistles, complete with automatic sliding doors opening to the cockpit!