I am following Claude's lead here, while the layup is certainly not robust, it appears to be substantially thicker than the stated 1/4". I can see what appears to be at least three layers of mat sandwiching two layers of heavy woven roving. I suspect that the pictures are a bit deceiving because we are not seeing a clear shot of a complete cross section of the layup. It also does not appear to be anywhere near the inch or so of laminate that I would have expected to see.
Of the most significant concern to me would be the obvious delamination of the layers comprising the layup. That kind of delamination can result from damage or from defective materials or laminating procedure.
I suspect that it would take a fiberglass expert with the required chemical engineering background and the necessary test equipment to obtain much more than a hypothesis as to the cause of this failure.
Chris,I am following Claude's lead here, while the layup is certainly not robust, it appears to be substantially thicker than the stated 1/4".
I believe he is referring to the Cynthia Woods, a Cape Fear 38,Roger, thanks. What does "it's the CW all over again" mean -- I'm a bit lost there.
So sorry to hear that and I hope everyone is safe. I hope this does not happen to many more of them.This is now number three or four that I have heard of..My 302 lost her keel last weekend. She sunk in 6 or 7 minutes.
I'm in the midst of doing that very thing on my Catalina 30 using cast 'floors'. The following pictures are of one of the casting patterns. At this stage my patterns have been completed and I'm still canvassing foundries to make the castings. I'm leaning toward stainless but two alloys of bronze are also available.So why not take a beam and install it inside the boat and screw it to the keel bolts as a way to prevent the keel from ripping out? Seems like some kind of insert could be made for the sump that could be installed, screwed to the keel bolts and drastically improve the integrity of this design without too much cost or effort?
Go with bronze.I'm leaning toward stainless but two alloys of bronze are also available.
In 2006 I was talking to a Fellow Hunter owner, his a Hunter 34 1998, mine a Hunter 356 2002. He was quite distressed as he was selling his boat and felt the Broker had allowed a potential buyer to take his boat out and caused structural damage around the Keel/Bilge area of his boat, at the time thought it was strange and I recalled he hauled the boat out and had it fixed !! Ironically 2 years later I started to take on water opened the bilge cover to see water coming from a keel bolt and exactly the same damage around the Bilge/Keel box. I pulled the boat out of the water and found so much more going on the Keel was adrift and the the structural ribs had de-laminated fore and aft of the keel and over a mtr each side of the centreline see pics. I discussed this with Hunter, and of cause they didn't want to know me, stating I must have run aground. thanks for nothing Hunter. Unfortunately I hadn't, so my insurance company didn't want to know either. approx 20k later all was fixed. I had to gut the boat and we basically ground the glass away inside and out and replaced the bottom of the boat. While the boat was supported on a frame to offload the weight of the Keel the hull was caving in under the weight so we had to re-position the Boat several times . The aft Bulkhead doesnt seem to be circumferential so the hull was collapsing until it found the bulkhead near the Aft bathroom. Very poor Hunter! I think any body who owns a mass produced boat should really consider having it structurally surveyed they may be made to a certain standard but that can be open to interpretation. I also think If you are considering strengthening you hull get an engineer to design it for youGo with bronze.
I think you are going to a lot of trouble and expense here to introduce some potential problems. This could be done a lot cheaper and ultimately stronger. The ribs and the stiff hard spots you are introducing into the structure could make you regret this down the line.