THE BOOK about how fiberglass became the dominent material used in building boats was written by Dan Spurr in 2000 - Heart of Glass - Fiberglass Boats and the Men Who Made Them. This is a book that took 12 years to put together. Dan is Research Editor at Good Old Boat Magazine, former editor of Practical Sailor and a former Senior Editor at Cruising World. It is required reading for anyone wanting a detailed history of how fiberglass reinforced plastic made its way into boats.

As I have found with trying to get the facts leading up to the Dolphin story right, there was no one keeping detailed notes of who was doing what and when in those days, and memories are often clouded. In the beginning there were several people experimenting with trying to make reinforced plastic boats in the mid 1930's. It seems that if one person were to get the most  votes for succeeding, that person would be Ray Greene. His story, and his indirect effect on the Dolphin are covered in several places on this site.

In the 1930's plastic resins had not yet been developed that would cure at room temperature, requiring ovens to raise the temperature of molds. Resins liquified at the higher temperature, running like water to the lowest part of the molds - causing resin rich and resin starved areas. Companies like GE developed equipment to 'rock and roll' the molds to keep the resin evenly distributed. The higher temperature caused mold materials to expand at different rates causing mating problems. The liquified resin needed fillers to thicken it - fillers like powdered asbestos!! were used. Ovens and molds were made of wood and fires were frequent. The requirement for ovens and practical size considerations were major factors limiting production to small boats and dinghies. Early structures were made with textile cloth as the load carrying fibers - it was not until 1941 that Owens Corning developed a process for weaving fiberglass. FRP was a term that really meant fiber, not fiberglass!

Into this mix of production challenges Ray Greene and others worked to solve the technical problems on the plant floor, many developing 'secret' processes and secrets they tried hard to keep from competitors. Jim (Cham) Hunt, sales manager of O'Day reported that Palmer Scott would not let him or other O'Day sales people into the Fall River plant for fear that production secrets would get out. Gordon Goodwin of Cape Cod Shipbuilding in Wareham, MA, another early fiberglass boat producer, told me that his father, Les, had the same concern and did not let sales people into his plant.

WWII, as it did to many emerging technologies, had a major impact on the depth and breath of fiberglass technology.

To be continued...