[Public-List] Public-List Digest, Vol 1729, Issue 1

[Peter Milley]

I have been reading this thread on epoxy resins with amusement.

We operate the tallship St. Lawrence II/ Brigantine Inc. All our masts,
spars, yards and booms are laminated with epoxy. we've never experienced
any issues with delamination. A mast will generally wear out with age
before it will experience any delamination issues. Surfaces prone to wear
around irons are problematic where surface coatings chafe and allow
moisture to gather. This needs to be monitored.
We have been operating our sail training vessel for the past 60 years, May
till November on the Great Lakes and Atlantic in all conditions. Our ship
is not a dock queen; it gets sailed!
Peter Milley,
v.Pres Brigantine Inc.
v. Chairman CSTA



> On Feb 4, 2010, at 3:21 PM, Wcwinslow at aol.com wrote:
>
>> Hey, What's the bum rap on epoxy? I scarfed and glued a  27' hollow
>> wood
>> mast with nothing holding it together except epoxy. That was in
>> 1995. You
>> will agree that a mast gets lots of stress, but nothing has budged
>> so far.
>
> Now that you mention it, I have a boat-builder friend who has built at
> least a half dozen masts with epoxy as the only glue.  They were
> bird's mouth construction.
>
> I believe he has also disassembled one or two older wooden masts (non-
> epoxy glue failure - not sure what kind it was but they were old) and
> reglued them with epoxy.  They were (if I have my terminology right)
> box construction.  I think I would have heard if one of them had
> failed, as we're in touch regularly.  The boats are out sailing.
>
> Are masts and beams not subject to creeping loads? (I understand now
> that the cold molded boats are not.)
>
> In a way I don't have "a dog in this fight," because I'm comfortable
> with the materials and glues I use for my projects; but then I know
> that before I reached that stage I relied upon information from forums
> (along with other info).  And I hate to think of people not
> considering epoxy for anything structural, when it seems suitable.  I
> wonder if maybe it is being ruled out unnecessarily.
>
> Again, I'm open to changing my mind if it isn't structurally suitable
> for boats, but.... I just have the nagging feeling that it is (?)
>
>
> Rachel
> ex-#221
>
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