[quote=Edchris177][quote]A friend of mine bought the Getaway because he has a background in kayaking and he insist the rotomolds are rock solid and thinks it would hold up better to beaching then fiberglass hulls [/quote]
[quote]but i'm happy my boat is frp [/quote]
After sailing the crap out of a fleet of Waves in Antigua for the last 10 days, winds of 20-25 mph gusts to 30 mph & discussing the boats with the resort operators I have changed my mind on plastic boats, & I have to agree with the last quote.
With regards to wear & tear it must be remembered that these boats sit rigged in the tropical sun, sails up every day. (The sails are taken down each night)They get launched through the sand & driven up onto the beach at least 1/2 dozen times a day.
The boats were divided into two groups, 2005 models, & 2000 models. I was told sails last 2 years, then get replaced rather than repaired once they get a bit faded. The 5 year boats were pretty stiff & still looked newish. The 10 year boats were all soft on the tops, between the beams, with one showing a definite sunken crease all the way between the two seating areas, on both hulls. You could push it down easily with your fingers. It seems that the plastic gives way after a certain amount of usage. There would be no way to fix this as you could with an FRP hull. One 10 year boat was "parts only", the molding for the gudgeons had separated, again, an FRP could be repaired.
[img]http://www.thebeachcats.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=79057&g2_serialNumber=4&g2_GALLERYSID=008a439eaf53bdb9f80a7e5cf24e189f[/img]
The boss told me this group was pretty much ready to be replaced. He claimed they bought them for $3400 USD, a hull was $9&change, so it wasn't worth it to buy a new hull, they just got new boats & saved the old for parts. The beams, masts, rudders,Bob, etc all looked to have lots of life left, so Hobie is putting out pretty durable stuff.
The bottoms do wear out in the sand & are much more difficult to repair than FRP. There are several tutorials here for the fix (FRP), & newbies have done it without to much trouble. The boss showed me a product that came in two flat cans, that they mixed & applied to the bottom, "just before the foam was exposed". He claimed they bought it in the US, but the writing was all German, so I don't know what it was. He also showed me where they used a heat gun to smooth out larger gouges. Other than the hulls being soft on top, they looked remarkably good, still shiny.
We wouldn't use/abuse our boats like these, they probably age three years for every calendar year. I don't believe there will be a problem with the plastic getting brittle, but they will wear. Once they do start to let go, you would have to replace the hulls. I don't think you will see many still alive at the 30 year mark.<!-- editby --><em>Edited by Edchris177 on Jan 10, 2011 - 04:07 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]