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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Rebar/Fiberglass Hull- 1 ATM design
All your strength will be in the fiberglass hull. If you make 
the FG thick enough it would be great. I think you will find that the cost of FG 
will be too expensive for you. 
 
I think the main reason most people are interested in FG, or 
wood, or any of the other "non-conventional" ideas presented on this list, is 
because they don't have experience working in steel, and these materials seem 
like "do-it-yourself" kind of materials (they really aren't; they require 
considerable skill).
 
For the life of me I can't understand why more people haven't 
latched onto the idea of buying premade boiler end caps to construct a 
saucer shaped hull. There wouldn't be any forming, and welding would be 
minimal, I'm sure you could get a mobile welding service for your needs. 
Somebody really needs to put one of these together and document the time and 
money saved with this technique.
 
JP
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  
  
  Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 3:46 
  PM
  Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Rebar/Fiberglass 
  Hull- 1 ATM design
  
I had an idea for a hull that I wanted to run by you 
  guys and get an opinion-good, bad, or indifferent.   
The hull is 
  frame based.  The frame is made of 5/8" rebar, bent and welded into 
  circular rings, spaced 1' apart along the length of the keel.  For the 
  nose cone, rebar lengths would be bent into oval or parabola shaped sections 
  and then crosed and welded.  The tail would go the same way, shaping 
  sections of rebar and welding.  Then, the frame would be covered in a 
  thin, flexible plywood.  We are also considering a sheet metal layer on 
  top of this.  Finally, the hull would be coated with fiberglass.   
  
Penetrations would be sealed with o-rings and a sealant.   
  
So,what do you think? 
Thanks, 
Ryan 
P.S. What do 
  you guys think of a spray on bedliner layer somewhere in/on the hull? 
   Just some half-baked idea my colleague had; figured I should ask.