The argument against it is "Carbon is too expensive..." but if the entire industry were to swith and suppliers could make it in bulk, wouldn't the cost come down quite a bit?
Fibergalss is basically mined from the ground as sand, then refined. That's why it's cheap. Carbon fiber OTOH,is a synthetic product with a complex and costly manufacturing process. Unless some new miracle process emerges, the cost will not go down anytime soon. The "synthesized mesophase pitch" method of production was supposed to be that miracle method, but the cost has not come down.
The light aircraft industry is slowly changing over from aluminum to carbon and the prices are pretty much the same but the finished product is both lighter and stronger.
The economics and mechanics of boat vs light plane manufacturing are so completely different that such a simple comparison certainly becomes a bit simplistic, I'm sorry to say. The choice in light aircraft is between structural aluminum and carbon/epoxy, NOT glass and carbon. BIG difference. The savings in aircraft manufacturing comes not mainly from weight savings, but labor, because the parts count is so much lower for carbon/epoxy. Remember that metal aircraft are mostly riveted together, and that this is still done mostly by hand, one rivet at a time. Carbon/epoxy has allowed aircraft makers to build large structures in molds with significant automation and far fewer labor hours.
Structurally, riveted or bonded high-strength aluminum still competes well with carbon/epoxy, but I for one would never buy an aluminum boat built from one of those corrosion-prone high-strength alloys. Corrosion problems are bad enough with masts and beams even though they are generally made of lower alloys like 5052 or 5056.
It's like comparing apples to boiled eggs!
Jimbo
