chopped mat

Why 80% of New Sailboats Are Garbage (The Factory Secret)

 

Sounds like a gross exageration.

 

Watched it, it appears to be an AI generated hit job to create clicks.

I started in the 60s doing this stuff, there were great boats being built back then, along with garbage, it has always been that way. Boats that survived a few decades were remembered fondly, the garbage didn't last long and went to a land fill, so it's survivorship bias.

If you want a well built boat get yourself educated on what goes into making one and be willing to pay for it.

Chopper guns were being used everywhere in the 70s, and used correctly can be a tool that helps make a great part.

 

The chopper gun has been around a long time.

 

I started in the 70s and most small hulls were built (generally overbuilt) by chopper gun with polyester resin. This construction method quickly crept into larger moored boats and the dreaded osmosis became the norm. We would lift out a boat for a week's hardstand and sometimes they were still there a year later.

Some boats broke in testing conditions but the cause was generally design rather than materials. The cowboys of the builder/designers who sprung up placed aesthetics well above function and thought a naval architect was a plastic surgeon who specialised in bellybuttons.

I can imagine it still occurs due to the numbers who visit forums like this with world changing ideas, then argue with experts who point out their obvious flaws. Hugh Bris is a deadly influence around open water activities.

 

I'd say most of the failures came from poorly or untrained crews let loose to build something that resembled a boat. It may have looked good on the outside, but even if someone engineered it and had perfect laminate schedules, the crew had no idea on how to build it correctly.

Catalyzation was commonly the glug glug method, or on a chopper gun the catalyst was uneven in the spray fan. That's if the catalyst wasn't dripping on the mold and/ or chop already on there. Blisters became common because the resin was determined by price not quality, well that and the poorly catalyzed resin with catalyst drops on the glass.



The early days were pretty wild in building production boats.

 

Cowboy outfits. Materials and methods gained poor reputations due to profit being the focus over quality.

I have flat out told people to run from second hand boats they had asked me to inspect and report on, yet it seems the purchase decision was often made long before I arrived and they bought it anyway. It is mostly an emotional decision apparently, because vendors sell lifestyles.

It just needs to look pretty at the boat show, and have some marketing literature on hand for boating journalists to quote from. Social media these days might make them more honest, but I guess that depends on how much they pay.