Further evidence of over-building

[Kenneth K]

Installed a new access port next to my battery box the other day. Had to make a 4.5" round hole with a jig saw. The saw struggled a little more than I expected. Turns out the FG laminate is over 1" thick in this area. I think that is probably the same thickness as the hulls of some new construction boats.

 

[toddster]

Looks like balsa-core to me - typical deck construction - but still plenty thick FRP... I've taken cores out of my deck and I don't recall quite that much lay-up, but it has been a while. And the hull is pretty thick near the keel, but only about 3/8" elsewhere. I wonder if any of those cores are lurking in the dusty corners of the shop?

 

[gabriel]

Here’s the core of the solid layup off mine near the keel line, it’s 5/16“ thick plus the 1/8“ G10 PL I added for reinforcement , pretty thin actually.

 

[Christian Williams]

Here's the 381 transom--more than 3/8ths solid. About the same as the cabin house. TAGF tends to be about 3/4" or more.

 

[nquigley]

Installed a new access port next to my battery box the other day. Had to make a 4.5" round hole with a jig saw. The saw struggled a little more than I expected. Turns out the FG laminate is over 1" thick in this area. I think that is probably the same thickness as the hulls of some new construction boats.

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I'm glad you didn't hit that battery cable with the jig saw! I was thinking of putting an access port in the same location but decided not to because I saw a big cable under there when I checked the area from the other port that's closer to the distribution panel.

 

[Kenneth K]

Exactly! That battery cable was fastened with a screw-in zip tie right about where the center of my new port is. I still have the fuel tank out so I was able to go in from the back side and move the cable. There is also a corrugated wiring conduit immediately outboard of the port (visible in the first picture). I had to be careful to not hit that with the blade as well.