1. Boat Fiberglass Tabbing
What is Boat Fiberglass Tabbing? This is where bulkheads and supports in your
Powerboat or Sailboat are fiber glassed in. This gives your outer hull support
and beefiness as you pound through the water and waves. Some Boats and
Yachts have that solid feel as they cut thru waves, and even when they fall off a
wave pounding into the water below. Boat fiberglass tabbing makes the
difference of a boat or yacht shuttering as it hits the waves...it stops some of the
"Boat Oil Canning" also.
Take a look at- Fiberglass Pontoon
Boat oil canning is a term that is used to describe a boat that twists as it goes
through the water. If you take an empty soda can and hold both ends and twist
them in different directions (slightly), you'll see the twisting effect...yet the can
keeps it's form. Well that is what the water does to your boat. Imagine when
your stern area is still in the water and the forward portion is out off the wave
hanging in mid air....What keeps your boat's form? It is the fiberglass tabbing of
all structures in your boat or yacht that make it keep its hull shape/form. If your
hull thickness was massive, you would not need as much tabbing. But in today's
world, the hulls are not too thick. Fiberglass is strong, but it needs a good
skeleton or structure fiber glassed in. That's the trick... Well actually the trick is
getting to all the areas to tab in.
Some vessels have a lot of tabbing, but after awhile the tabbing breaks away
after the years of pounding and cutting through the waves. Some of the tabbing
is not reinforced by having multiple layers and failure is a sure thing. You
should go forward to the "V" and have someone cut through some waves. You
will be amazed at the movement or flex of the hull. You will wonder why you
don't have more Gelcoat cracks and crazing. BTW, that is why you get those
cracks... usually no support or fiberglass tabbing.
Take a look at- Fiberglass Pontoons
There are several ways boats and yachts are made...one is the hull is popped out
of a mold and the interior is built within piece by piece. They do all the tabbing
to hold everything in place as the interior gets tied together. Another way is the
interior is made on an interior pan (a whole inner hull) that gets inserted into the
hull. In this way, the interior can be done and finished, ready when the hull pops
out of the mold. Which way is better is up to you.