Azimut 68-S; Hull Laminate Problems...

The thickness is not a problem in itself, but perhaps the infusion has not been good enough. I would also expect solid GRP in the area of struts and rudders. But how running strakes can detach is a mystery?

Looks like they got it backwards and put the foam in before the coring. Either way this can't be good.

The foam is the core.

I was looking at that checkerboard surface and thought that might have been the coring. Oops!
I understand foam coring above the waterline, but not below and in high stress areas.

The checkered pattern is from the grooves in the foam core, where the resin is spread through the infusion.

This is how it can look like; http://www.diabgroup.com/aao/a_literature/a_pdf_files/bul_pdf/finishing.pdf

I stand corrected, and learned something, too. Perhaps I'll stick to the photography and writing biz. lol
AMG, thanks for the doc, interesting.

Not nice..................

Scares me, don't have that problem with my aluminum hull. Maybeif they want fiberglass they should buy a Hatteras from the early 70s like Pascal.

I saw an 80' Azimut aground on the beach right in front of Bimini Sands one time... I'm gonna say 2002. It also had a 1/8" fiberglass hull. The owner was deemed a Compleat idiot (insert Bimini pun) for months after the accident, because he tried to leave in a raging storm and struck rock bottom when the boat was apparently in the trough of a large wave. There were pictures of the wreck in every drinking hole on the island.

What would have been a routine grounding w/ undergear damage for an overbuilt boat with the same 5' draft -Hatteras, Viking, Bertram -turned out to be a hull breach for an Azimut. Again, the Bahamians were astounded by the egg-shell nature of the Azimut hull.

I am no cheerleader for any particular brand. The only thing I don't like are these faux Euro-style yachts that fold like a lawn chair when tested by the sea.

The main idea with building cored boats is to get them light and strong. The hull is designed to go fast at a certain weight and burn much less fuel than more conventional built boats. Should you "overbuild" such a boat it wouldn´t perform at all. It is two different schools and with twice the cost for fuel in Europe compared to the US, it makes sense.

But you need to build even cored boats with uncored areas around fittings and often it is no core along the keel and in the chines. The boats I have designed are built with divinycell and vinylester with vacuum infusion and so far no problems with the material...

People live and learn. If rich idiots want to buy sexy looking boats with eggshell hulls, that is their choice. I have no sympathy for them when their eggshells crack.

I can't wait to see the delamination and longevity related problems that are going to develop with these chic looking Euro boats in the future.

If you wait just a few years you will find that almost all GRP boats will be built this way. It is also finding it´s way into cars and planes...

What I have seen lately though, is that the older Bertrams is starting to be soft and if you drill in the hull, it is more like powder than glass. So who knows what will last the longest...

Boats today are meant to stay relatively nice for about 2 years and convince you to sell by the 3rd. Losing 1/2 a million $ in that time seems to be OK with many, especially since it can be hidden for many years through rolling over loans into new boats 'your monthly payment will barely rise at all'. This is the same crowd that pays $800 a month to own nothing by leasing their cars and take 40 year mortgages on 110% of their homes value. It works too, until times like these fall on them. I call it 'stupid' money. If the public is willing to give it why shouldn't the boat builders and brokers take it? To quote P.T. Barnum "There's a fool born every 11 seconds".

Do you mean that cored hulls are inferior or cheaper than solid hulls or that smart people like to burn 50 percent more fuel while making more wake?

I'm saying that people don't even know what quality is anymore much less care. Money is just too easy to get to bother. Used to be that a lucky, well off person might have a 45 footer (and a few millionaires had 100 footers). That boat would last a lifetime or at least that person's boating life. Now, everybody and their brother has a 45 footer, many an 80 footer and a lot have 150 footers and in 3 years they're trading them in. Glitz, speed and easy money have replaced quality. Personally I think it's stupid and wasteful for an 80' yacht to cruise at 30 kts., but it's not going to change so I'll just hold out my catcher's mit while stupid money is thrown.