XPS core again

I did as one poster wrote "jump ship"...... There has been a lot of good material since. I lose patience with being a punching bag, and constantly hammered as seems to be the case when this topic comes up. The idea was to look at how the material could be made to work, and the only input I was getting was total negativity. Thickness adds up to stiffness, not to mention R value, which equates to less condensation among other things. Building a structure of any size with a divinicell core at 2" thickness would be prohibitive. A "perfect" core would vary in density through it's thickness.... but that's not a realistic option with current technology. More stiffness also means less internal structure... fewer bulkheads, etc. My proposal is to build an 18' trimaran similar to that of a major designer I won't name here using XPS foam at this point. There comes a time when one has to simply close one's ears to all the negativity, and forge ahead with the information one does have, doing test panels and proceeding to solve the issues as they arise. Many things would never have been done if people listened to the nae sayers. Compressive strength is not a huge issue. Where it matters, the answer is to stiffen the surface so the compression is distributed... or to use different material. The assumption that one will mindlessly construct a boat without taking these matters into account is insulting to say the least.
After "jumping ship"...... I did come back to find some useful input....... thanks for that!

 

Everything you just said would increase the weight.
If you don't care then close your ears.

This point gets made time and time again, but is never answered.
Have fun.

 

The thing to do before you build is buy a sheet of off the shelf xps and some fiberglass and epoxy and glue up a panel. You will be quite amazed at how easily the glass and epoxy peel away from the core.