Reinforce the hull

[nokiaprinter]

Can anyone give me some ideas and tips of how to reinforce the hull of the impulse 31 please? What kind of fiberglass cloth and resin? should i put more strength by adding resin just along the seam or the whole hull? I heard about putting foam in front of the hull. Any comments are appreciated, thanks!

[Stephavee]

I think these hulls are pretty strong but you should add a layer of cloth inside the hatch! i was too late of mine and now i have gel coat cracks.

[POWERS]

Can anyone give me some ideas and tips of how to reinforce the hull of the impulse 31 please? What kind of fiberglass cloth and resin? should i put more strength by adding resin just along the seam or the whole hull? I heard about putting foam in front of the hull. Any comments are appreciated, thanks!

Adding resin alone really only ads more weight not a whole lot of extra strength. If your gonna do it use fiberglass clothe or better yet carbon fiber cloth, it looks bad-ass and adds lots of extra strength.

Here is a shot of a couple impulse 26s with some carbon fiber cloth laid down.
impulsebcf.jpg

[nokiaprinter]

Thanks for the advices powers, i ended up putting Expandable Marine Foam in the front of the boat only, i heard that will help prevent the hull from splitting apart.

[d.a.v.e]

I think these hulls are pretty strong but you should add a layer of cloth inside the hatch! i was too late of mine and now i have gel coat cracks.

How much of the hatch do I need to cover in cloth? I just took my first shot at laying carbon fiber cloth? I have about .5 of an inch in the front & 1 inch in the back that are not covered at the moment.

I was thinking I would cut pieces to fit the gaps and lay them tomorrow but to be honest I would prefer to be lazy no not deal with the resin mess again

[Stephavee]

I did the hole under side. but if your trying to save lbs. you might be able to just run a backbone strip down the middle? You just remided me that i forgot to replace the flotation foam back on the hatch! good thing i aways use hatch tape!

[G-UNIT]

On my old hatch that got trashed I put fc and resin, a couple of layers and I could still push in on the top so on my new hatch I cut some styrofome and epoxed it to the inside of the hatch and it is very stiff, cannot push in on the top at all.
also trying it this way it also adds floation to it.