Posts: 32949
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | 'Glass wrapped foam board' is a misleading description of what many builders are using for transom material and stringers. Composite transom construction materials used today in high performance boats offer extremely rigid, extremely strong transoms ready, willing and able to carry the new 300 HP outboards on the market now, and are certainly not prone to 'crushing internally'. The material used in many boat transoms I am familiar with can't even be bruised with a framing hammer, and that's before lamination. The same New generation composites used in boat building are also used in military applications instead of traditional fiberglass laminates or steel where strength/weight ratio is critical, and hold up under severe applications. Also, an entire transom can be made from the composite material covering keel to chine and corner to corner.
Flotation foam bonds to whatever it is injected into as it expands and 'kicks'. I would say that if they chose to, many boat companies could say the foam bonds the deck to the hull, but it's doubtful any builder would rely on that bond for overall structural integrity. Foam coring is a common method of stiffening/reducing flex in the hull and deck, and allows for less laminate to be used if that's the goal. Whaler used to build a a full foam core boat, I suspect some models still are. In order to claim a 'one piece boat, I'd think the hull and deck should be laminated together creating a molecular bond between the parts, actually making the parts 'one piece'.
In short, the laminate technology used by both builders is cutting edge, and both will take extreme abuse. |
