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October 2025 Update Read More »
Diagnosing and Repairing Hull Delamination: A Real Structural Repair, Not a Cosmetic One Pulling up an old floor panel to find “a little bit of delamination” turned into a full structural repair once the actual extent of the damage became visible. Finding the crack, and following it further than expected A suspected crack in the
Diagnosing and Repairing Hull Delamination: A Real Structural Repair, Not a Cosmetic One Read More »
Reinforcing a Doorway Bulkhead: Beam Theory in Practice A doorway bulkhead looks like a small, unimportant piece of structure. Get the engineering behind it wrong, and it isn’t. Why this small section needed real reinforcement This particular bulkhead section sits on the outboard side of the boat, carrying a genuine structural job: supporting a real
Reinforcing a Doorway Bulkhead: Beam Theory in Practice Read More »
Hull Weight Reduction & Flush Hatch Installation: Paikea Refit Update Watching the waterline creep down, tide line by tide line, over the better part of a year is one of the more satisfying kinds of progress on this refit — slow, cumulative, and now finally starting to show. Why this started as a repair job
Hull Weight Reduction & Flush Hatch Installation: Paikea Refit Update Read More »
Topic Overview: This post details the process and engineering rationale behind cutting down a structural bulkhead to improve livability. We explain the load path disruption, the calculations for reinforcement, and the practical execution using unidirectional carbon fiber to restore and enhance structural integrity. Author: Shayne and Anna A boat refit often involves a trade-off between structural integrity
Modifying Boat Bulkheads: The Engineering Behind Increasing Headroom Read More »
Restoring structural integrity and finishing a cut composite panel. Author: Shayne Key Message: Cutting into a cored panel necessitates a two-stage process to restore its structural integrity: first, reintroducing in-plane stiffness and strength along the cut edge with a strategic reinforcement (like unidirectional glass); and second, re-establishing the critical load path between the skins and sealing the core with
Bulkhead Reinforcement: Unidirectional Fibreglass and Edge Capping Read More »
