It’s interesting to see the number of products used in the various transportation industries that make up major components. In the recreational marine industry, hulls are generally made from fiberglass or aluminum. Both are easy to manufacture and plentiful plus they offer durability at an affordable price.

For the boat interior panels and components, there are many more choices of materials and price points. Common materials include: rotocast plastics, ABS, Fiberglass, Vinyl wrapped materials, TPO, and fiberglass. Each has its own advantages.

In our marine products, we favor the use ABS as our standard plastic. When making structural components, we will add two layers of fiberglass to the back. The result is a strong product, as in the use of a command console, which is easy to maintain and form. ABS offers several advantages in forming, gluing, grinding, drilling, and painting.

The bonding of the fiberglass is the tricky part of the process. Years ago, several panel houses tried making this combination of materials as their primary offering but got into trouble when the two materials delaminated. This happens because the thermal expansion and contraction of fiberglass and ABS plastics are different. That is, they don’t expand at the same rate in the blazing sun and they don’t shrink at the same rate when your boat is in Minnesota dry storage. To counter this problem, the Materials Engineers at M.E.P. worked closely with our supplier of fiberglass resin to formulate a custom blend that emulates the characteristics of ABS that will not delaminate.