Dirk,

Please read my post a couple of times before replying. Most of the answers you seek were already given in the original posting.



I didn't assume that, I was told it is like that by a well known catamaran builder.



Strength is not a consideration in the hulls when viewed in the traditional sense, resistance to crack propagation and impact resistance is. This because both mechanism really limit the strength that usage of a material delivers in real life application with respect to laboratory measured material properties. Resistance to buckling (compression loads) is the 3rd such mechanism but I have not seen any reports that kevlar hulls are significantly inferiour to the other materials in this respect. Probably because adding bulkheads to the hull keeps the skin in column and thus negates any inferiour properties. In laymans terms; an easy fix is available to solve that particular issue.




I wasn't talking about masts but about hulls and said so clearly in my posting.

An added advantage of kevlar is that it is available at reasonable prices. This is very much NOT the case for carbon these days.





Try availability and the fact that most of the superior properties of carbon fibres are not really needed in hull construction, this in contrast to masts.

I'm noticing that more and more boats are using kevlar hull construction like some Volvo ocean boats and an increasing number of beach catamarans.

I can name at least 2 modern A-cats that have full kevlar hull construction at this time. And also several other catamaran types that either offer full kevlar hull construction or partially kevlar construction (with glass making up the remainder). Carbon fibre usage here seems to be on the retreat.

As such I recognise a shift away from carbon with respect to hull production.

Wouter