This means our engineers can analyze the loads a particular part will see and orient the fiber to match the stress. Directionally-oriented glass produces a less brittle hull that can better resist impacts. You'll note that some builders use solid laminate construction. We choose to core our boats with end-grain balsa, a material with a natural cell structure that is exceptionally rigid and strong. In fact, it is twice as strong as the best foam cores in shear strength, cleavage and flexural strength.
Balsa also has superior thermal and sound insulating qualities.
All thru-hull fittings are bedded in solid glass to virtually eliminate the risk of water penetrating the vessel's core. The most common method of securing a boat's cabin appointments to the hull, and the least expensive means of doing so, is to set the bulkheads into a liner, like assembling a toy by snapping the male part into the female part. The result is an interior that sits glued and snapped into the hull, vulnerable to shifting, moving, even breaking loose should the seas provoke it. At Freedom, interior appointments are carefully joined to the bulkheads and bulkheads are glassed to the hullsides becoming a structural element, fully integrated, within the hull. A yacht's fittings are a good indication of quality.