Happy New Year to everyone and many safe trips in the New Year. I would like to know the up keeps on a wood hull in South Florida. The good and the bad. And if is not advisable because of the maintenance is it worth glassing the wood hull?? Thank you. Domenech
Wood Hull
- Thread starter miami
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Given the number of fiberglass boats on the market and the relative ease of maintaining fiberglass compared to wood, I can no longer imagine the attraction of a woodie to one who prefers to spend his time sailing.
Maybe
Glassing your wooden hull may or may not be worth it. It depends upon the value of the boat on the market and the value of the boat to you. Wooden boat upkeep is largely a question of continued painting. Any areas below the waterline, especially in warm water like Florida (and more and more even up to New York City, as pollution drops) are subject to worm infestation - toredos - if not thoroughly well protected by paint. Humidity like that prevalent in Florida can also cause rot in wooden boats that are not well ventilated. The Woodenboat site mentioned earlier; http://www.woodenboat.com/ (click on Forums) would be a good place to ask your question and to provide more details about the size, type and age of your boat so people can provide better answers to your questions.
Glassing your wooden hull may or may not be worth it. It depends upon the value of the boat on the market and the value of the boat to you. Wooden boat upkeep is largely a question of continued painting. Any areas below the waterline, especially in warm water like Florida (and more and more even up to New York City, as pollution drops) are subject to worm infestation - toredos - if not thoroughly well protected by paint. Humidity like that prevalent in Florida can also cause rot in wooden boats that are not well ventilated. The Woodenboat site mentioned earlier; http://www.woodenboat.com/ (click on Forums) would be a good place to ask your question and to provide more details about the size, type and age of your boat so people can provide better answers to your questions.
Thank you Paulk
Paulk Thank you for your info. A friend is thinking of buying a Trumpy so I am trying to help him out. Before he makes the final decision. I own a sailboat and is fiberglass so I don't know too much about wooden hull. Thanks. Domenech
Paulk Thank you for your info. A friend is thinking of buying a Trumpy so I am trying to help him out. Before he makes the final decision. I own a sailboat and is fiberglass so I don't know too much about wooden hull. Thanks. Domenech
Wood vs Fiberglass
The advantages of a fiberglass boat are too numerous to list. The disadvantages of a wooden boat are too numerous to list.
The advantages of a fiberglass boat are too numerous to list. The disadvantages of a wooden boat are too numerous to list.
Wood is Horrible
Hey Guys, We had wood boats in our family from 1970 to 1990 and believe me when I tell you that they are not worth the hassle to anyone who enjoys using their boat. If you're not interested in boating itself & just want a hobby to pass away endless free time, then a wood boat is for you. That boat will eat up 100% of any free time you have, and then some. I've had a 1977 Catalina 30 (fiberglass, of course) for the past 5 years and I STILL can't get over how maintenance free it is. When I'm working on my boat to get it ready to launch in the spring I often hear other people with fiberglass boats complain about all the hard work they need to do to get their boats ready for launch. If you think that's tough, here's what you'd need to do to wooden boats to get them ready: 1. Paint the hull & topsides every 1 to 3 years. If you don't have to paint the entire thing, you're definitely going to need to do touch-ups here & there. 2. Inspect each plank below waterline for cracks, gaps, etc. & re-caulk, repair or replace as necessary. 3. Check for dry-rot & repair as necessary. 4. Check condition of fasteners. Brass or Bronze screws (I forget which) are usually used to fasten each plank to a rib in the hull. We had mahogany over white oak. Very strong, until the screws start to deteriorate, which they do over 10 to 15 years in salt water. Our boat needed a re-fasten job. There were about 2,000 screws holding the whole thing together. Both the screws and ribs were completely rotted to the point where you couldnt back the screw out of it's socket. Talk about a headache. 5. Brightwork!! You think that 1980's production cruiser has a lot of wood??? Think again. 6. Oh yeah, now that all that's done, you can do all the stuff that fiberglass boaters need to do: Paint bottom, do maintenance, replace this, improve that, etc. At the end of our previous boat's life we found ourselves painting either the hull, deck or bulkheads every year. We'd do varnish every year. The boat did look good, but in the fall we'd usually find a bit of rot under some fresh paint & it broke our hearts that we'd have to rip our high-gloss handywork all apart. Have I mentioned the launch process??? Wood contracts when it dries out. That leaves gaps below the waterline when you launch in the spring. We had to leave our boat in the cradle of the travel lift for an entire day until the hull expanded to where it needed to be. That wasn't free. We spent the next 2 days with 110 volt high volume pumps until she finally filled in the way she should. We did this every year for 20 years. I love the look of wood boats and I have such admiration for those who have the patience to maintain them. In my mind, though, these people are a different kind of sailor than I am. I'm a sailor who likes to SAIL. They're the sailor who likes to work on their boat & take great pride in ownership. Tell your friend to figure out which guy he wants to be & take it from there. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. Sorry for the long rant!! Allen Schweitzer s/v Falstaff C-30 Hull# 632
Hey Guys, We had wood boats in our family from 1970 to 1990 and believe me when I tell you that they are not worth the hassle to anyone who enjoys using their boat. If you're not interested in boating itself & just want a hobby to pass away endless free time, then a wood boat is for you. That boat will eat up 100% of any free time you have, and then some. I've had a 1977 Catalina 30 (fiberglass, of course) for the past 5 years and I STILL can't get over how maintenance free it is. When I'm working on my boat to get it ready to launch in the spring I often hear other people with fiberglass boats complain about all the hard work they need to do to get their boats ready for launch. If you think that's tough, here's what you'd need to do to wooden boats to get them ready: 1. Paint the hull & topsides every 1 to 3 years. If you don't have to paint the entire thing, you're definitely going to need to do touch-ups here & there. 2. Inspect each plank below waterline for cracks, gaps, etc. & re-caulk, repair or replace as necessary. 3. Check for dry-rot & repair as necessary. 4. Check condition of fasteners. Brass or Bronze screws (I forget which) are usually used to fasten each plank to a rib in the hull. We had mahogany over white oak. Very strong, until the screws start to deteriorate, which they do over 10 to 15 years in salt water. Our boat needed a re-fasten job. There were about 2,000 screws holding the whole thing together. Both the screws and ribs were completely rotted to the point where you couldnt back the screw out of it's socket. Talk about a headache. 5. Brightwork!! You think that 1980's production cruiser has a lot of wood??? Think again. 6. Oh yeah, now that all that's done, you can do all the stuff that fiberglass boaters need to do: Paint bottom, do maintenance, replace this, improve that, etc. At the end of our previous boat's life we found ourselves painting either the hull, deck or bulkheads every year. We'd do varnish every year. The boat did look good, but in the fall we'd usually find a bit of rot under some fresh paint & it broke our hearts that we'd have to rip our high-gloss handywork all apart. Have I mentioned the launch process??? Wood contracts when it dries out. That leaves gaps below the waterline when you launch in the spring. We had to leave our boat in the cradle of the travel lift for an entire day until the hull expanded to where it needed to be. That wasn't free. We spent the next 2 days with 110 volt high volume pumps until she finally filled in the way she should. We did this every year for 20 years. I love the look of wood boats and I have such admiration for those who have the patience to maintain them. In my mind, though, these people are a different kind of sailor than I am. I'm a sailor who likes to SAIL. They're the sailor who likes to work on their boat & take great pride in ownership. Tell your friend to figure out which guy he wants to be & take it from there. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. Sorry for the long rant!! Allen Schweitzer s/v Falstaff C-30 Hull# 632
Don't apologize Allen. Good post, well written and
fun to read. A couple other points come to mind, like heavy and slow, unless it's a WEST boat. Don Casey summed it up best in his 'This Old Boat' book preamble. If your old boat is wood, forget it. You won't learn to fix it with this book. Too much trouble.
fun to read. A couple other points come to mind, like heavy and slow, unless it's a WEST boat. Don Casey summed it up best in his 'This Old Boat' book preamble. If your old boat is wood, forget it. You won't learn to fix it with this book. Too much trouble.
Glass over wood
I've owned two small glass-over-wood day-sailing boats over the years. GOW is much better than wood alone, once the glassing job is done, but still has significant disadvantages. 1) You need to paint every few years, compared to indefinite life of gel-coat on a glass boat if you wax it. 2) No matter how hard you try, there's always some nook or cranny where the wood still is exposed that lets in rot, or allows the boat to leak. And you won't know what spot that is until you think you're done with the job and drop the boat back in the water. 3) Once it gets a foothold that rot will be much harder to fix, cause now you'll probably be looking at tearing out the glass around it to get to all the rot, then have to do both a wood repair and a glass repair. 4) A GOW boat is neither fish nor fowl-won't have the resale value of either.
I've owned two small glass-over-wood day-sailing boats over the years. GOW is much better than wood alone, once the glassing job is done, but still has significant disadvantages. 1) You need to paint every few years, compared to indefinite life of gel-coat on a glass boat if you wax it. 2) No matter how hard you try, there's always some nook or cranny where the wood still is exposed that lets in rot, or allows the boat to leak. And you won't know what spot that is until you think you're done with the job and drop the boat back in the water. 3) Once it gets a foothold that rot will be much harder to fix, cause now you'll probably be looking at tearing out the glass around it to get to all the rot, then have to do both a wood repair and a glass repair. 4) A GOW boat is neither fish nor fowl-won't have the resale value of either.
To Fred:
Fred, I never read that Don Casey preamble. I love it! Heck, I've lived it!! Thanks for pointing that out.
--Allen
Fred, I never read that Don Casey preamble. I love it! Heck, I've lived it!! Thanks for pointing that out.
--AllenI looked at a wood Hinckley once...
while in Maine. I then asked a wooden boat builder about moving an older wood boat south, he said: "It's like taking cheese out of the fridge, you don't want to do it for long" They are beautiful though, when well maintained. Good luck to your "friend" ,what ever "he" decides Marc
while in Maine. I then asked a wooden boat builder about moving an older wood boat south, he said: "It's like taking cheese out of the fridge, you don't want to do it for long" They are beautiful though, when well maintained. Good luck to your "friend" ,what ever "he" decides
Marc- Status