Unidirectional glass , anyone used it to build boats from ??

I am interested if anyone has ever used just unidirectional glass to build hulls with !! OR even considered using just unidirectional :?:

Has anyone ever explored its properties and capabilities for hull construction as a solid glass layup or used in conjunction with a core as the outer and inner glass !!.

 

Just locally.. too much work to do that IMHO..

 

Why bother, when you can use biax or triax to get the fiber orientation you desired with much less effort? You're going to need the cross grain strength of fiber alignment anyway, so why lay them down one at a time? For example if you use two layers of 45/45 biax, canting one 11.5 degrees from paralleling the LWL and the next 11.5 degrees in the other direction. Your laminate is 4 layers thick with a crossed fiber orientation, on a 11.5 degree separation, all arranged longitudinally.

 

Yes I have built with it from 17 to 45 feet, the advantage is you can get the glass across the loading better than say a biax where you are carrying the unnecessary layer doing nothing and going along for the ride.,I have never used it as a solid layup as that would be a waste of time. We used to get the "S" glass in 12" rolls with a plastic film rolled in,Later I just bought E-Glass Uni,on the oneoffs it allowed for a ripple free laminate there was no laps.Tunnels lastly it lays dead flat and with a little squeegee work and you almost have the filament to resin ratio of wet bagging.

 

Why bother ! Because its interesting in the quest for strength and lightness plus incredible durability and stiffness from such a thin layup !!

Triax comes in different originations , 0/45/45 for the outer skin you can get 90/45/45 for the inner skin this is as close to what i have used on a couple of boats .

I then used solely uni after that , this ended up stiffer .
0 being the centre line of the keel outer skin 30/60 then 45/90 for the inner layer ,was only 4 layers thick of 400gram with a 125 gram csm between each layer , solid glass with a glass grid frame inside and a glass floor with a 18mm thick foam core . no wood any where to get wet and go rotten over time !!!
Even being thin it was incredibly strong and light weight because uni takes the minimum amount of resin to wet out with Vinylester resin if you skin with peel ply on the final layer .
i found that i ended up with very little wastage when i thought about the cutting of layers , Far less than using a triax or a biax glass
Was used for a 16 foot hull , used in rough water so got a pounding all the time .