Marine vessels constructed from sandwich panels with glass reinforced polymer (GRP) composite skins and PVC foam core are now common. Such structures will inevitably be subjected to damage and any repair technique needs to ensure that the strength and stiffness of the structure are restored. The current recommended Royal Australian Navy (RAN) techniques for the repair of sandwich structures have been evaluated and deficiencies identified. Static tests conducted under four-point bending indicate that the presence of voids in the bondline seriously affect the strength of the repair. Modified repair techniques are proposed to simplify the repair procedure while improving the repair quality and repeatability. The test results show that the modified techniques overcome the problems associated with the RAN repair techniques
