[Tartan34C]

Now I am confused CharlieCobra. Aren’t you a case of someone describing on the internet a failure in the system? You posted some questions on the boatdesign.net sight describing local failure due to rot in the substrate. Or did I misread the conversation? And if I remember the answers you got the majority were not very encouraging and some of the most experienced professionals had the most negative voice. edit 10-23-07 at 6:19 PM EST ***I did misread his post at boatdesign.net. See his post above.***

Interesting reference you posted. Did you read it? It describes C-Flex used as a different system then you have, a system I have never seen and not the way it was used in your boat and doesn’t paint a very encouraging picture either. As I said it’s a way to squeeze out more life in a tired hull and as long as it holds up the CG will certify it as OK for a passenger vessel. But that paper doesn’t say you gain anything long-term. It simply says they will let you use it if you want. I stand by my statement and maintain that it’s not a good thing to do if you want long term preservation as opposed to short-term flotation.

And by the way, I think you don’t read much about C-Flex on the net pro or con because it was at its most popular in the late 60’s and early 70's when the internet didn’t exist and even then only a handful of people tried it. And the conscience was that it was not worth doing so you don’t see very many people trying it now that the net has become popular. So not much is on the net about it one way or the other. I built a boat with it in 1975 and it was a fast and easy way to get a hull. But there are now even better ways to build a one-off so I don’t even consider it for that anymore. As far as I am concerned it’s just a footnote in history now.
All the best,
Robert Gainer