Sounds like you may have it covered then. As I've never seen the 1 mm face sheet panels, I can't really comment on them much, but just from the thickness I can imagine they're pretty durable, strong stuff. And adding in the additional epoxy seems like even more "insurance" against unseen damage.
I'm still working on how the transition from astrophysics to sail boat manufacturer occurred ;). Don't get me wrong, I'm a mechanical/aerospace engineer myself and love to sail, but I'm also not able to talk my employer into letting me build a 60 ft cat in the back yard of the plant... On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 22:09:09 -0800 (PST), Dhananjay Anand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > That was a concern, that we had early on. Aerospace > honeycomb panels, have very thin face sheets, ranging > from 100 microns up. We use 1mm alloy face sheets on > most panels and some "cosmetic" panels have a 0.5 mm > face sheet. Also, the aviation and space grade panels > are, bonded using a film adhesive, we lob on epoxy > resin. So there is literally another 1.7 mm epoxy > layer below the face sheet. Albeit, your point is > definetly valid, only time will tell I guess. > > P.S. I have dropped a ball peen hammer on one of the > panels from 10 feet above. No, visible damage. > > > > --- Will Moore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > It is GRP with marine ply bulkheads and carbon > > fiber > > > cross beams and mast.(I will attach those pics to > > the > > > album in a few hours) > > > The deck panels that you see are all aluminum > > > honeycomb sandwiches. (Fantastic stuff!) > > > > I'm not normally one to chime in much, but with a > > background in > > aerospace, I've seen a lot of use of the aluminum > > honeycomb. The > > stuff is great! It's lite, strong, stiff, > > everything you could want. > > > > Until you get a puncture of the face sheets. There > > are tremendous > > problems with very small (almost invisible to the > > naked eye) holes > > letting in water and other elements which then lead > > to severe core > > delams and corrosion issues inside that are never > > seen from the > > outside. This happens VERY frequently and thorough, > > routine > > inspections are required to ensure structural > > integrity. You drop a > > wrench, screwdriver, whatever, suddenly you could > > have a large problem > > forming of which you're not even aware and can't > > see. I've seen > > 30-40% of entire aircraft fleets grounded for > > problems like these > > pending repairs. > > > > Anyway, just my 2 cents worth, and that's about all > > it's worth. > > > > Will > > > > > > Group Home > > http://www.TheBeachcats.com > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! > http://my.yahoo.com > > > > > Group Home > http://www.TheBeachcats.com > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > Group Home http://www.TheBeachcats.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beachcats/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
