Re: stringer strengthening Q`s
I copied this from a PM sent to me so it could be discussed in the open.
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Rebuuttal
Quote:
For a very long time there was little or no "engineering" done on most production boats, they were just built to a design dreamed up in some guys head. The components used were what was convenient, lowest in cost, or what he was familiar with. They may have used plywood, dimensional lumber, foam, just glass, old diapers, it all worked.
As engineers became more involved (late 80s early 90s) products were spec'd for use in each application for a particular goal, most of the products used were still the same, they were just spec'd to achieve this goal. That objective may have been cost, strength, weight, sex appeal, design layout, etc.
Few boats made today use the ?best? products, methods, designs, etc, its all a trade off when it comes to cost of the finished unit.
Plywood is one of the more common materials used in fiberglass production boats, its easy to work with, low in cost, has many uses, is strong and it works very well as a core in a stringer.
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Hello, my name is XXXX and you wrote the above as some kind of reply in a thread about stringers. I sincerely hope you don't actually believe what you wrote - Just for your info:
The real engineering of modern style water craft started back in the 1500's in England, by the 1800's there were well established criteria for the proper displacements, draft, etc. and construction and design of manufactured boats (Original manufacture started with government fleet vessels). Since boats are the earliest form of transport going back before , I assume that is what you meant by a long time. You seem to be mixing home-builts tech with manufacturing tech.
Also, for your info, NO boats in manufacture for the public today use the best available materials - they'd have to be brain-dead to build such a boat as none but the VERY wealthy could afford one.
You either don't know what you are talking about, especially when referring to plywood use in mass MANUFACTURING today or you are purposely misleading folks just to forward your own personal opinions. I never said plywood couldn'd be used for a CORE - That was not the question, it was STRINGER material not core material. You can use foam (or lead even)
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My Reply
We aren't discussing sailing ships made more than a century ago, we're discussing Fiberglass runabout production boats that took off in the 60s and 70s. Few engineers were involved in designing these boats, most were copied or thought up by some guy with an oversized garage and the desire to build a better mouse trap. They built a boat and if it broke they made that area a little thicker, they used whatever was handy, ply, dimensional, cardboard, glass, or whatever they could find that would reinforce the hull. These small builders popped up all over the country. It wasn't until later when some of these companies grew larger that engineers were hired.
As far as ply being used today, yes many F/G boat builders use it everyday for stringers, bulkheads decks, backing plates, etc, it was the mainstay of the industry for a very long time.
How do I know this.....I've been working on, or building boats since the mid 60s, I was in those conversations of "how do we build this to be strong enough". Now I'm in the plants that build these boats every week, so I see exactly what's used and how they do it.
Building hand crafted wooden boats is a whole different ball game and the type and style of wood is very important. With the type and style of boats being rebuilt here, the wood is of far less concern.
[qoute]"I never said plywood couldn'd be used for a CORE - That was not the question, it was STRINGER material not core material. You can use foam (or lead even)"
That's all we're talking about here, plywood as a core for the stringer.
