The hull of a yacht or a boat is under normal circumstances strongly stressed by the surrounding environment and, therefore, prone to wear and tear. Overloading of structures, stranding, improper hauling, wrong placement on keel blocks, shocks etc. can generate a concentration of stress on the fiberglass, facilitating or resulting in delaminations. In addition, water molecules can remain “trapped” in air bubbles, causing the melting of fibre sizing; resin possibly not catalyzed and resin-free fibre to get wet. This solution draws – by osmosis – sea water inside the laminate. Increasing the volume of water also the pressure increases, causing bubbles on the outer surface of the gel-coat, thus requiring the grounding of the hull and a reconstruction of damaged areas.

DES performs NDT controls that allow the identification and characterization of discontinuities in the analyzed component, detecting defects, delaminations or water infiltrations in advance.