You are correct, a construction helmet is very strong however a Spartan hull is no more than .5 mm thick at best which makes it quite weak. Lets see, a sandwich baggie is also made from plastic but then again slightly thinner than the Spartan hull. Only car company that can afford to use fibreglass in there bumpers is Ferrari. Apart from peddle boats, who actually builds something made of plastic?
ORIGINAL: phmaximus
ok after some looking around from what i can understand ABS is stronger, can take a bigger impact with out cracking
Best example safty helmats/hats, they stoped making them out of fiberglass in the 1940's
The reson u dont see it more is it costs so much to make a highpressure mould, and the thought of making a mould for a real boat wouldent be cost affective.
There is alot of debait about this on the internet.
Fact fiberglass is very cheap to make
Fact fiberglass is easy to make moulds for
Fact fiberglass is easy to work with
Fact fiberglass can be lighter that ABS (think thats why they use it on planes)
no kidding, ever seen a smashed up fiberglass bodykit or motor bike faring??? I have, ive never seen the plastic ones brake like fiberglass does.
The main reson u dont see many ABS body kits is the price, they are $2000 -$10,000 more than there fiberglass counter parts (car bodykits)
sure some fiberglass is close to ABS, but generally its not, all depends who moulded it.
thats funny im a ex vehicle mechanic & i know for a fact that any insurance company in Australia will not use fiberglass bumper bars, to repair dammaged cars.
for the sheer fact that they are brittle.
Test go kick the front bumper on ur car as hard as u can, u might be luckly to scratch it thats about it. no go kick a fiberglass jap import bumper as hard as u can, $10 says ur foot goes straight through it
Been a aircraft mechanic do u know about the all new Boeing 787 Dreamliner?? carbon fiber reinforced plastic...... sounds like the future to me
good old debat, im still open to any new information & ideas