Want to make a glass Raceboat...But... what lay up?????

[RT's]

Hi,

I am wanting to make a small hydroplane out of Fiberglass for racing and would like some advise, I have built theses boats out of plywood, but I would like to know what type of layup to use and how to figure it out?? the boat I have now has a 1/4 ply bottom, 3/16 ply deck and 1/2 inch thick running surfaces.

I would like to use polyester resin, tri axile glass and a core material ( thats another Question.... but later), is there a way to figure out how thick to make the glass layup

Thanks in Advance
ROY

[mmd]

Sorry to be a pain in the butt, but what you are asking for is basic materials engineering. For larger boats there are scantlings guidelines, but for little boats it is usually done by copying what someone else has done, by trial and error, or by learning engineering of materials. There are several books available on FRP composites engineering, but these are not for the mathematically-challenged.

Or you could pay a designer to do what he is trained to do.

[RT's]

Hi,
Thank you for your reply!, yep I thought it would be a pain in the butt type question, I was just thinking about so I thought I'd put it on the table for discusion! I have had a look at other boats, some are just made out of 450gsm matt,( and are roughly built, I'm yet to look at a new, better built one) and I know how thick, but I would like to use tri axile glass, with balsa sandwich, or similar, ie a better layup! I will get a book, and do some homework, and get some advise!!

Thanks again
ROY