The company operates shipyards in Westport, WA and Hoquiam, WA. In late 2003, Westport opened their newest facility in Port Angeles, WA. This new facility is dedicated to the manufacture of Westport’s newest and largest design, a 50-meter (165-ft) tri-deck motor yacht.
Historically, Westport’s composite fiberglass construction has been done by hand lay-up of pre-impregnated layers of plain woven roving. However, upon start-up of the new Port Angeles facility, Westport began using resin infusion for some of the structures in the new 50-meter tri-deck. Over time, the Port Angeles facility has become the “advanced technology” center for the company, and they have evaluated several types of advanced reinforcements for use in resin infusion. In the Spring of 2004, 3TEX was asked to provide sample materials for resin infusion process development. Westport designed a series of experiments comparing 3WEAVE™ 96 oz. fabric to comparable fabrics produced by J.B. Martin, Johnston Industries and Owens Corning, along with their “baseline” plain woven roving. The experiments consisted of fabricating 4-ft x 4-ft flat panels by resin infusion and evaluating key process parameters such as material ease of handling, infusion speed and fiber wet-out. After panels were completed, they were subjected to a series of mechanical tests, including “Hydromat”, a unique structural test developed at Gougeon Brothers, Inc. Hydromat testing is a practical way to apply actual water pressure to the middle of composite panels, causing them to bulge. This represents a more realistic loading condition than traditional bending test methods, and is becoming recognized as the key structural test for boat hull construction. After completion of panel fabrication and testing in early Summer 2004, Westport engineers ranked the candidate materials included in the “competition”. 3TEX 3WEAVE™ 96 oz. fabric was awarded first place, cited as the easiest reinforcement to infuse among the candidate materials. Moreover, the 3TEX panels produced the best overall test results in properties measured by a third party test lab contracted by Westport. Westport is now beginning detail design of the first 50-meter tri-deck, including laminate schedules for fiberglass composite components (hull included). 3WEAVE™ materials will predominate in resin infused structures and Westport engineers are committed to including 3WEAVE™ materials in their new designs. It is our job now to not only support them but to also educate other Westport personnel in the advantages of 3WEAVE™ materials so that they may be used across the complete Westport product line.