Superior Lamination
A new N47 nears completion at our Gainesville, Florida, facility
Building a fiberglass boat involves working from the outside in, and it all begins with the gelcoat. There are many types of gelcoat to choose from, and each can differ significantly in color retention, ease of patching, and resistance to crazing. From worst to best, the per-gallon cost of gelcoat doubles. And yet the total cost of the premium gelcoat used in a Great Harbour Trawler is insignificant in proportion to the overall cost of the vessel. Why many of our competitors continue to use cheap gelcoat is beyond understanding. Next time you're in the market for a new boat, demand that the manufacturer use Isophthalic-NPG. That's all we use, and it's the best.
Once the gelcoat is sprayed into the mold, the lamination process can begin. Our opinion is that this is no place to use a chopper gun to spray short-strand fiberglass for the structure of your hull. Great Harbour Trawlers are 100% hand-laid. The use of durable fiberglass weaves, properly applied, keeps the lamination consistent throughout the hull, and significantly increases overall strength. Each layer is individually wet out with resin, and all air bubbles and excess resin are rolled out by hand. Our engineering department carefully monitors the number and placement of layers rolled into the hull to ensure the optimum strength-to-weight ratio.
Both the style of the fiberglass weave and the type of resin used to saturate the fiberglass is important to the overall quality of the hull. We use vinylester resin exclusively in our hulls to preclude any potential osmotic blistering below the waterline, and we back that up with a five-year warranty against hull blisters. While some of our competitors follow suit, many do not. Make certain your next boat uses vinylester resin in the hull, because the difference can mean tens of thousands of dollars in repairs down the road
Both the style of the fiberglass weave and the type of resin used to saturate the fiberglass is important to the overall quality of the hull. We use vinylester resin exclusively in our hulls to preclude any potential osmotic blistering below the waterline, and we back that up with a five-year warranty against hull blisters. While some of our competitors follow suit, many do not. Make certain your next boat uses vinylester resin in the hull, because the difference can mean tens of thousands of dollars in repairs down the road
We do not use core materials below the rub rail in our trawler hulls. Although Mirage remains one of the industry experts in cored construction, we do not feel that it is appropriate in a vessel that will likely spend some portion of its life bouncing off rocks or touching bottom while gunkholing in the great cruising areas of the world. While coring the hull of some boats is the right thing to do, we believe there is no place for it in the lower part of a trawler's hull. Take a core sample from the bottom of one of our hulls and you'll find solid fiberglass laminates of more than an inch thick. Ask our competitors for a core sample from the same place, and be prepared for a surprise.
