30 November 2009
What's next from John Moxham?
John Moxham is one of the UK’s most radical hull designers. His faster, flatter-running powerboats are under contract to the military and the RNLI, among others, and his Osprey 28 won the world speed record for an outboard. His design for Tiger Marine’s spectacular Offshore Raiding Craft is now in production at Holyhead Marine for the Royal Marines.
Now, he is working closely with GRP Laminates on prototyping and testing his latest project. “GRP is great for fast, flat-running hulls,” says Moxham. “You can detail every curve for minimum resistance, minimum disturbance and maximum stability. Assuming your boat doesn’t have to be rammed up beaches or bullet proof, it is a wonderful material to design in.”
The balance is always between speed and stability: a deep vee offers a softer ride in big seas, but it will be more tender, tilting more in the turns. Moxham’s new 21’ workboat design addresses this trade off in a whole new way, exploiting the spray rails and curving the chine down to provide more lift, better balance and buoyancy.
Moxham had both commercial fishing and dive markets in mind: “The small, family owned fishing boat needs a longer range, which means more speed, but they also need a stable platform. With this boat, they will be able to reach the fishing grounds faster, and get themselves out of trouble. At the same time it has great sea-keeping and stability.”
Watch this space for more developments from GRP Laminates…
19 November 2009
Showered with ideas
Why are so many bathroom pod providers still using traditional tile and timber, despite the benefits of reinforced composite? To prove a point, GRP Laminates have developed a prototype bathroom solution, which has been warmly welcomed by key players in the sector.
At the top of the market, customers expect a high gloss tiled finish, polished stone or granite in their en-suites and wet rooms. Now GRP Laminates has developed a prototype range to capture the visual impact of high grade materials in a one-piece composite moulded tile-effect panel and granite-finish low profile shower tray. The product delivers all the versatility of GRP, with a superb ceramic and granite finish.
“We know from our experience in the luxury yacht market that composite one-piece bathrooms offer superb benefits in terms of simple installation, maintenance, cleaning and durability,” says Mark Isham, who heads up the Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) facility at GRP Laminates.The use of GRP bathroom pods offers many advantages to developers, designers, builders and M&E companies. Bespoke pods can be manufactured off-site for ‘plug and plumb’ installation in hours rather than days. Cleaning is much easier, and GRP is highly resilient to deep and steam cleaning: surfaces can be treated with mould and MRSA-resistant finishes for care homes and hospitals.
For more information call Mark Isham or Bob Bennett on 01983 200 988.
Prospect Road, Cowes
Isle of Wight PO31 7AD
T 01983 200 988
F 01983 200 995
E enquiries@grplaminates.com