Building a World Championship Winner

Exocet Moth © Martina Orsini

The design of the Exocet International Moth is a World Championship Winner. Built entirely at Maguire Boats in New Milton, Hampshire, England, it represents the very best in construction and performance within the Moth class.

The Exocet Moth has evolved through continuous refinements and world-class competition testing and results to reach notable performance improvements, higher speeds and reliability as well as ease of use.

In 2013, the first Exocet Moth was born and it has been in development ever since. Simon Maguire and Maguire Boats have worked closely with designer Kevin Ellway for the past 8 years, this has enabled them to produce a boat that has won the last four World Championships, multiple European and National titles. Their partnership continues as they develop upgrades to keep their boats up to date with the latest developments.

"Together, we've produced a boat where the hull, wings and foils are all very stiff and this translates into controllable speed," explains boatbuilder Simon Maguire. "The Exocet foils very early and is easy to tack and gybe - even in strong winds. All of this means she's easier to boat to sail, so the guys can sail her faster for longer."

Saving Time with Epoxy Infusion

Maguire Boats have had long-standing technical support from David Johnson of PRO-SET® Epoxy, exploring the use of epoxy infusion to give the foils the stiffness they demand. "For thin struts the foils must take a lot of load, so we've sourced ultra-high-modulus (UHM) carbon fibre which can be infused and we are literally just putting our first infused parts into production."

For the infusion process, Simon is using PRO-SET Infusion Epoxy. As with laminating, the foils are vacuum bagged. Once as much air as possible is removed, Team Exocet prepares PRO-SET INF-114 Resin and Hardeners for infusion. The mixed epoxy is then introduced to the component under the vacuum bag, the pressure differential propelling the epoxy and distributing it evenly within the composite laminate.

The epoxy infusion for the foils has required Simon and the team to develop the processes and equipment. So, has the investment been worth it? "Absolutely," says Simon. " We are infusing all our main foil verticals now. The shift has enabled us to create a virtually 100% pinhole-free surface finish and a foil with a much higher stiffness - ultimately a much better performing, more controllable and more robust product.

"In fact, apart from the great laminate quality, we can prep and spray a vertical in under an hour and in one hit," he adds. "It used to take three hours. This is a great time saver."

The PRO-SET Epoxy team will be at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show from 26th-27th February in Farnborough, UK. Stop by stand F60 and get advice on your latest and upcoming projects and watch our 'epoxy best practice' demos live from the stand.

Find out more at wessexresins.co.uk/pro-set