Fibreglass: The Forgotten Building Material That Still Stands the Test of Time.
In the rush to embrace fast, cheap, and disposable, the world quietly left behind one of its most remarkable building materials—fibreglass.
But it hasn’t left us.
Fibreglass has been sitting in the background for decades, strong, reliable, and patiently enduring, while plastic grabbed the spotlight with its low costs and mass production appeal. Yet, when we look around at the mess plastic has made—our landfills, our oceans, our everyday lives—we have to ask: was it really a win?
A Legacy That Still Floats
The very first fibreglass boat was built by Ray Greene in the late 1940s in the United States. It was a revolution. Suddenly, boats could be moulded into sleek, strong shapes that didn’t rot, didn’t corrode, and didn’t need the constant maintenance of wood or metal. Today, some of those very first fibreglass boats are still around—still floating, still solid, still usable.
Fibreglass was poised to become the future of smart, sustainable construction. Then plastic came charging in.
Cheaper, faster, easier to produce. But also—flimsier, disposable, and polluting.
Built to Break vs. Built to Last
Go to any dump and take a good look. What do you see? Plastic. Everywhere. Cracked buckets, broken crates, discarded toys, shredded packaging—plastic dominates our landfills. Not because it can’t be reused, but because it won’t be. It’s become a disposable culture. Something breaks? Toss it. Buy another.
Now try and find something made of fibreglass in that same landfill. You probably won’t. Why? Because fibreglass has value. It’s not something people throw away lightly. It’s too strong. Too useful. Too lasting.
Nobody throws out a fibreglass boat.
They keep it—even when they can’t use it. It sits, forgotten in the backyard, because they know it still has worth. And when the time comes, a grandson pulls that boat out of the weeds, brings it to me, and asks if it can be restored. And it can.
It’s always the same story.
The fibreglass hull is dirty, sure—but still perfect. It’s the wood inside that needs replacing. The fibreglass? A quick clean, a little polish, and it’s back to how it was 30, 40 years ago.
That’s not just a material. That’s a legacy.
The False Economy of Plastic
Plastic is marketed as the future. But what kind of future is built on things that are used once, then thrown away?
Cheap doesn’t mean good. Disposable isn’t progress. We are drowning in plastic pollution—and for what? Short-term savings that cost us more in the long run? That’s not an economy. That’s a lie.
Fibreglass, on the other hand, is repairable, customisable, strong, and designed to last generations. It may cost more upfront, but it’s an investment in something that won’t break, fade, or become obsolete in a year.
It’s a material that can be cherished, passed down, restored, and reused. It’s built long and strong—just like things used to be.
The Craft Is Disappearing
There’s another problem. While fibreglass has survived, many of the true craftsmen who know how to work with it haven’t.
When cheap manufacturing shifted to China, a lot of the knowledge went with it. Now, in the Western world, very few people remain who truly know how to build with fibreglass—like a sculptor with stone, or a carpenter with oak. But we never left.
Custom Fibreglassing has stayed true to the craft. Since 1984, we’ve been designing, shaping, building, and restoring with fibreglass. Clients often come to us exhausted, having searched high and low for someone who can actually do what they need. When they find us, they breathe a sigh of relief. I hear it all the time:
“I should’ve come to you first.”
And they’re right. Because we don’t just build parts—we build trust. We build relationships. We build things that last.
Choose Fibreglass. Choose a Better Future.
If you care about your product… if you want it to last… if you want it to have value in 10, 20, or even 50 years… choose fibreglass.
And when you do, make it a selling point.
Tell your customers: This wasn’t built to break. It was built to last.
It was built not to pollute, but to serve.
It was built with care, by real people who know how to make things the right way.
📣 Let’s Build Something That Matters
If you’ve got an idea, a prototype, a dream product, or a legacy piece that needs the kind of quality you can’t find anymore—come to us. You’ll get a material that lasts, a team that listens, and a finished product you can be proud of for generations.
Custom Fibreglassing in Palawan:
For the builders, the restorers, the innovators, and the dreamers—
We’re ready when you are.
