Grand-prix raceboat structures have now universally adopted the benefits of advanced composites, particularly sandwich construction. At its most basic, sandwich construction involves the use of a core material that separates two relatively strong and stiff face laminates. The face laminates in recent raceboat structures have been either aramid fibre based, or carbon fibre, or a combination of the two. Resin choice is almost universally epoxy, with builder and designer opinion split between the so-called 'wet-preg' and 'dry prepreg' approaches. In the former case, the dry reinforcement fibres are wet out 'on the job' by means of a wet-out machine, which carefully controls the resin content, whereas dry prepreg is delivered to the builder with the resin already in the reinforcement. The two approaches utilise oven heat and vacuum bag pressure to make the resin flow, consolidate and then cure to a solid state......

For the remainder of this article please consult a copy of the September edition of Seahorse.