We’ve decided to use CoreCell brand foam for the boat construction. It was a very close (and difficult) debate between that and the less-expensive DivinyCell – both posessing amazing qualities with few bad points. From the research I’ve done, it appears that CoreCell is easier to thermo-form, has much better impact resistance (pdf) but seems to burn at a faster rate than others.
Still unsure on the high-density insert material to use – CoreCell makes one, but it’s damned expensive (over $300 for a 3×6 sheet!) – it seems Diab makes a much less expensive (~1⁄3 the price) foam for this purpose. There is also marine plywood – but we’re trying to keep as little wood on the boat as possible.
Did a ton of epoxy research today – mostly comparing physical properties of cured resins and then looking at the evil MSDS for the products that I could find. Scary shit. 🙁 Unfortunately, it’s left more questions than answers… More research to take place this week.
On the brighter side, I found a few mail-order places for safety equipment (neoprene gloves, nitrile gloves, tyvek suits and organic respirators) that isn’t that expensive at all – some items you order in bulk, but they’re items that I’d use multiples of anyway (such as suits, sleeves, respirator cartridges, etc).