Hey guys, before you get all excited about this foam build method please consider that those building the home build Farrier boats, have been building exactly like this for a lot of years, they have ironed out the problems, so before you start reinventing the wheel perhaps you may want to consider getting a preliminary study pack from Ian (www.f-boat.com/), it may save you a lot of time.

As to Carbon fibre chain plates, again this is standard practice with the Farrier designs, but I do stress that it may not be so practical for our requirements with the knocks and bangs we get, launching and pitch poling etc. Carbon has a tendancy to be "brittle" ie bend it and it breaks terminally where as bend glass and it will bend to a point, then splinter along the fibre, but will retain some of its previous strength.

What is the big deal about Carbon anyway, if you lower the cloth weight ( in boat building hull terms )to a point where you are saving weight then it simply cannot meet the impact loadings which almost certainly a beach cat will take.

You are far better off to build the hulls with good quality EGlass and Epoxy resin. Put the financial savings toward a Carbon mast and then skip lunch and beers for a few days, you will save far more weight, have a far more robust boat and be fitter and lighter for it. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />