C Flex Boat Building
C-flex . c-flex is a unidirectional fiberglass building material originally developed for the manufacturing of custom boats. since its invention, countless structures, marine and otherwise, of all shapes, sizes and complexity have been affordably built using this simple construction method.. This combination of rigid rods held together loosely, with pliable areas in between , is what makes c-flex unique in construction materials. in our knowledge, it is the only self-supporting material available today which will conform to compound curves without having to be stretched or deformed in some way.. Once the c-flex is in place, the resin, with other reinforcement as required, is built up outside and inside the hull, as for foam sandwich construction. see the grp foam sandwich page for more information. c-flex can also be used for sheathing existing wooden hulls, as a basis for building up an exterior sheathing laminate..
C-flex is still available, but not the best one off material for a 'glass boat. it's heavy, requires a lot of fairing and smoothing to produce a sweet hull, so the "goo factor" is quite high, though most of the one off 'glass methods are as well.. C-flex fiberglass planking manual. please note: while we are enthusiastic about these "one-off" fiberglass methods, in order to be properly utilized, the boat must be specifically designed for the materials.. I built a paine francis 26 with c-flex back in the early 80's. it's a good one-off method for fg boats, but as above, finishing the surface is a big, nasty job..