Coremat lay-up

[BEEN.DONE.]

Hi
this post is in conjunction with boatdesign.net forum "low priced catamarans"

does anyone know how to lay up coremat?
there are 1'' to 2'' gaps between the sheets as per pix.
It appears to me that the gaps in the coremat must be weak points and in fact could it mean the whole hull is weak?

[tinhorn]

I'm not an engineer, but it's my understanding that Coremat adds rigidity, not strength. It's a core material - the strength of the part is in the 'glass skins. That layup wouldn't frighten me at all, and I tend to panic easily.

[ondarvr]

You're correct, coremat does a few things, but doesn't really add to the strength of the laminate. It helps make a thin laminate stiffer and will also help hide print from whatever core may be used.

[Ilan Voyager]

Coremat is a good material for fastly building up thickness in a laminate. A bit brittle but it's not a true problem. The gaps must be absolutely filled with a light putty with some chop mat and/or strips of coremat for the following reasons:

1/ The inertia (=the thickness) of the skin must be regular with no high variations so you don't have points or lines able to flex along the hull.
2/ Steps in a core are hard to wet and keep bubbles when laying the inner lamination.

Don't worry your problem is easy to fix and the strength won't be harmed as is only a problem with a core.

[mikereed100]

It may be those gaps in the core are where the builder intends to place bulkeads?