30. JIMinFL



I think you could strip all the gelcoat entirely off a boat and it
would still float. If the fibers were adequately wetted out with resin,
the hull wouldn't even absorb water (or "wick" it around). That seems
to be where we disagree.



Now you are qualifing with "adequately wetted out with resin". Sure
some
better hulls will be more resistant to water penetration. The cheaper
hulls
still depend on the gel coat to keep the water out

******

:-)

When one states that water is going to leak through the frp laminate
and into the boat unless it is somehow stopped by the gelcoat- and if
one means "if the hull is defective.......", then it would be best to
so state. When talking about general functions of gelcoat, laminate,
etc it would be customary to assume one is talking about a standard
hull rather than a defective one.

No builder depends on gelcoat to keep water from leaking into the
bilge.