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PolyCore® is a unique syntactic foam used by Island Packet as the coring material on the deck and engineered structural grid of the yacht. Coring materials in general are used to provide panel stiffness and rigidity at a weight savings for a given structure. Like the vertical component of an “I” beam, the core bonds with the top and bottom layers to create a structure that is strong and light. Typical yacht construction uses organic materials like plywood or balsa wood to create the core (an inorganic foam is sometimes used) but each of these rely on a mechanical bond of resin or other adhesive between the core and substrate. These mechanical bonds are subject to deterioration through the differential expansion and contraction between the laminate and the coring materials (caused by temperature differences) or simply through impacts, causing the bonding to break. Ask surveyors what one of the more typical problems is on a ten-year old conventionally cored boat and they will probably say, “delaminated coring.” PolyCore®, on the other hand, is a polyester resin blended with small glass microspheres, creating foam very similar in look and feel to a heavy shaving cream. This material is sprayed onto the substrate, where it creates secondary molecular bonding with the polyester resin used in the laminate. And because these two materials expand and contract at the same rate, differential coefficients of expansion are avoided, eliminating a major source of delamination. PolyCore® is the only material that carries with it a ten year warranty against degradation or delamination.
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