EM Yachts: Appalling Workmanship

Where's the glue?

The topsides of the Huzar 30 are a 'foam sandwich' - that is, there is a foam core surrounded on each side by GRP laminate. The hull is initially built on a mould, then foam is glued to the inside of the hull, and finally another layer of GRP is laminated over the foam. Such a construction should be stronger and lighter than a solid hull. The 'sandwich' is illustrated on the right.

One problem with this type of construction is delamination: that is, the GRP laminate separates from the foam core. In the case of Prospero, the foam core has come away from the hull - but the question is why?

It does help if the foam is adequately glued to the GRP laminate. That was not the case in Prospero. When the topsides were pulled away, it was very obvious that large areas had never been in contact with any glue.

The photo above shows the hull of Prospero with the outer GRP laminate removed. It wasn't difficult to pull the GRP off, since it had never been stuck on properly in the first place.

And here is a close up of the foam behind the GRP. It's not entirely true to say there's no glue at all: the blue-white patches at the top and bottom right have some glue, but there are whole blocks of foam in the cenre with no glue at all. They've never been touched by glue. The boat hasn't delaminated; it's never been stuck in the first place.

So what of the GRP laminate? I took some of the cutaway topsides out into the sunshine:

Let's see how much glue there is on these:

You can see the outlines of the foam blocks, but overall, I would guess that not much more than 50% of the panel has been covered with glue.

The next thing you notice is the poor workmanship - look at this picture, where you can see gaping holes between the foam blocks (now filled in by the boatyard prior to rebuilding the laminate):

And in this picture, as well as there being no glue, the blocks seem to be stuffed in random places and random lengths, almost as if they were using up the last bits and pieces:

These photographs do show how appalling the build standard of this hull was. EM Yachts are denying responsibility for the state of the boat. According to them, it's my fault (I went aground on a sandbank and had to be towed off - apparently this put unacceptable stresses on the hull!). The UK agent, John Wittey of WitteyMarine, adheres to this theory - but then he would, given that it absolves him of any liability.

Now I know I am capable of many things, but causing glue to vanish like magic from the hull of a boat is not one of them. Neither EM Yachts nor Wittey Marine have ever examined the boat, yet they know what's wrong with it - despite all the evidence to the contrary.

So, would you buy a boat from Wittey Marine or EM Yachts?