Coremat & ST 500

[Charles9]

Hello

I'm just starting to learn about boat building and I'd like to ask you guys a question:

I'm following a plan and its telling me to use ST 500 (bottom) & 3mm Coremat (sides). I have a friend who is actually leading us in the building process and he says that instead of doing ST 500 we should go with combined fabric 1808 or 3208 and instead of 3mm Coremat we should go with 08 or 10mm balsa wood.

He says that nobody uses fabric on the bottom nor coremat on the sides since experience shows that its very easy to crack or break the hull depending on the speed.

What do you guys think?

Thank you in advance,
Charles

[Herman]

This depends completely on the boat. I know of hundreds if not thousands of structurally sound boats, built with coremat.

I do not know the ST500 product, however.