A Plausible Method for Fatigue Life Prediction of Boats in a Data Scarce Environment

Composite materials have played a part in the marine world for many years now specifically in the small craft applications. As with many other composite applications the range of materials used and the companies using composite materials range from the highly exclusive Sunseeker vessels to the high performance all weather rescue boats as used by search and rescue organisations around the world. The majority of these vessels are designed from the Lloyd's Register or DNV classification rules. As these vessels age some owners and operators are becoming increasingly concerned with the fatigue life associated with their particular vessel as it will have an impact on maintenance schedules, operations future resale values and the possibility of life extension.