gadangit
Member III
Happy New Year everybody!
Recently I had a shipwright (really!) tell me that he thought the hull on our boat was pretty thin. I know for a fact that the hull above the waterline at the V-berth is about 5/16", just like the layup schedule said it would be (ask me how I know.) I also know the hull is about 7/16" below the waterline from installing some thru hulls. He thought that was really quite thin, along the lines of "too thin if you plan on heading out cruising." He was especially surprised that our 42 year old boat was that thin in an era of "overbuilding". But the boat appears to be built per the specs.
I'm having a hard time resolving this in my head. If we pull up to a strange fuel dock, are we more susceptible to a random unseen bolt punching through our hull when it might just make a really nasty gougy scrapy thing on a thicker or more modern hull? Oil canning or other structural flexing comes to mind as well.
I looked back through some old posts and found the comment about fiberglass hulls lasting 10,000 years. It is truly a fantastic material.
I love our boat and have no interest in having anything else. I've just been pondering his opinion. Any thoughts to add?
Chris
Recently I had a shipwright (really!) tell me that he thought the hull on our boat was pretty thin. I know for a fact that the hull above the waterline at the V-berth is about 5/16", just like the layup schedule said it would be (ask me how I know.) I also know the hull is about 7/16" below the waterline from installing some thru hulls. He thought that was really quite thin, along the lines of "too thin if you plan on heading out cruising." He was especially surprised that our 42 year old boat was that thin in an era of "overbuilding". But the boat appears to be built per the specs.
I'm having a hard time resolving this in my head. If we pull up to a strange fuel dock, are we more susceptible to a random unseen bolt punching through our hull when it might just make a really nasty gougy scrapy thing on a thicker or more modern hull? Oil canning or other structural flexing comes to mind as well.
I looked back through some old posts and found the comment about fiberglass hulls lasting 10,000 years. It is truly a fantastic material.
I love our boat and have no interest in having anything else. I've just been pondering his opinion. Any thoughts to add?
Chris