Wooden Boats - Someone Talk Some Sense Into Me

Sep 14, 2014
1,251
Catalina 22 Pensacola, Florida
Having spent 35 years or so with a luger kit boat, glass hull and deck but all the interior is self installed wood I can offer some advice and cautions. I rebuilt the v berth wooden cockpit and lots of bunk tops over the years. Luckily I avoided the hull issues with wood. The basic problem with wood though as mentioned by others is maintenance. Since all boats leak , especially at hatches etc. you will get fresh water below into the wood. Even with my wood all having been varnished and later fiberglass sealed or coated water still got in. Dry rot is the killer, it rots out the wood even when you have dried everything out every time you find sitting water. Any exposed wood grain will soak up water by capillary actions and retain it long enough to start dry rot. Its hard to spot without probing because the surface looks fine but the wood is punky underneath. So basic advice would be to drill around and poke all wood areas from the inside before worrying about outside. Particularly the structural elements like stringers and beams. Best of luck.
 

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
I owned a Wm. Hand gaff ketch built in 1909 that I cruised for 5.5 years through the South Seas. In that time I wooded her twice (took all the paint off), had to re-caulk every seam and basically spent all my free time maintaining her. I loved that boat, but it consumed my life and cruising became a lot cheaper and more fun once I let her go and purchased a more modern fiberglass boat. I have also been the captain, crew or hired restorer of wooden vessels as old as 1886.
Of course, we were doing ocean crossings and living aboard, which added to the maintenance, but she was almost always the most beautiful classic in the anchorages and that was a pleasure. Remember, you are going to have to haul and paint that woody EVERY single year and anytime you lose some bottom paint or the toredo worms will eat her up. You will probably have to caulk her from time to time and if you don't have the skill and tools (which are really hard to come by these days) you will have to hire a professional, and they don't come cheap!
You can be the best carpenter or cabinet maker on the planet, but that by no means qualifies you to be a boatbuilder! It is a completely different craft. I'm not going to comment on the pictures you posted because it would be sheer speculation if I haven't actually been aboard, but there is a particular smell from wood rot and if you can find a good wooden boat surveyor, he will be able to tell you if there is rot in places you cannot see.
When I decided to purchase my "last" boat in 2009, there were tons classic Herreshoffs, Aldens and Rhodes boats for sale for a song. Thankfully, I purchased a boat using my brain instead of my heart!
If I haven't succeeded in talking you out of that woody as you asked, I wish you well.
 
Jan 25, 2017
147
Macgregor V222 Kentucky Lake
Capta - It didn't take much to talk me out of it and I always look before I leap. As I said in this post earlier... I always preface every one of my boat decisions with the question "what next?" If it involves renting yard space... that usually makes the decision easy. LOL! There was another motive in this hair brain idea... my wife and I are looking to create some short term rentals before we head out to cruise in retirement... Still a few years off I might add (we are 50 and 52). I think we will stick to land based rentals for now. I do enjoy hearing all you sea dowgs share your cautionary tales though... I must admit, I learn something every time I engage this forum. As for the cruising boats... I think the co-captain and I are more the Oceanis 31 kind of folks... I want to sail, not work when I retire.
 

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
I think we will stick to land based rentals for now..
At one point I had the idea of searching for classic old wooden motor yachts that just were not salvageable and putting them on a nice piece of property as hotel rooms. Though not seaworthy, they certainly could be brought up to hotel room standards and with some work, made to look very appealing. The landscaping and arrangement of the boats around a central check-in/restaurant could be quite fun to design.
 
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Sep 7, 2018
82
Chrysler C-22 Battle Creek
Wooden boats are beautiful to look at and some folks, like @TomY seem to enjoy maintaining them.

There are 2 Youtube channels I've been following about wooden boats, Sampson Boat Company
I have heard of both. I enjoy watching Acorn to Arabella. And those two guys seem to do quite well for just a couple kids in their own yard building a boat. Dont watch the other one. If you like the wood boat builds.....check out Salt & Tar. Definitely a fun young couple building their own wood boat from scratch. They are around 4 years into the build (I think) and finally in the water, but still building.
 
Jan 25, 2017
147
Macgregor V222 Kentucky Lake
Capa - That's a good idea and might be more feasible. I guess the "kernel of the idea" comes from wanting to provide an experience. Specifically and nautical / sailing one. I see our numbers dwindling. The Hobie Cat's don't line the beaches like the use to, The Sunfish don't line the lake shores anymore... I was hooked the first time I sailed a Sunfish at fourteen... There is something about moving without a motor. The feel of gliding across the water under sail. Once I was hooked, I never looked back and always wanted a little bigger boat, to go a little farther under sail. I honestly believe if you teach someone to sail... it can change their life dramatically. Responsibility, accountability, self-reliance, planning... all the things you all ready know. That all being said, I believe it can be a "flashpoint for change." The connection - body, mind, spirit, earth... it all clicks on a Sunfish when you're fourteen - if you're listening.

It's taken me thirty-six years and the support of an amazing partner and co-captain to amass our fleet. It consists of in order of length - One Snark (that's the starter for any student I take on), three Sunfish, one Thistle, one Hobie 16 and a McGregor V222 that we loving restored over two years (spending way... to much I might add, but we love her and sail S/V "Sea Gypsy" routinely).

We plan on cruising someday. Someday we will take a little bit of the nest egg and buy a proper cruising yacht. In the meantime, the fleet keeps growing... and we, Molly and I continue to come up with modest business plans to support our habit (and when I say we... mostly me lol). "He baby let's move to Dog Island FLA and start a sailing camp for adults and their kids" or in this case... "Let's start a boatel."

This forum will undoubtedly hear a few more "ideas" from time-to-time. Just know they are all with the aforementioned "kernel" at their core and with the best of intentions.

Sail or die.

Todd
 
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Oct 19, 2017
7,733
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Todd, I like the way you think.
Sailing has a philosophy behind it. It may be a little different for different people, but there is always some meta-reason beyond the enjoyment of Sun, water and moving from here to there. I have a Sailing and Philosophy thread on here somewhere, Todd, you should contribute. I'm waiting for AAA right now, dead battery, I think I'll go find it and add these thoughts.
I also really like Capta's idea. I think, having stayed in the Route 66 concrete wigwams, there is a market for such things.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Jan 25, 2017
147
Macgregor V222 Kentucky Lake
Always good to hear from you Will. In much the way "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was a vehicle for profound life change, I've often though sailing offers many similar lessons (times ten). I'm constantly learning from my boats. In fact, this weekend I picked up Sea Gypsy from the trailer doctor. I had the fenders raised and few other things done. She had been there for about a month give or take. Upon getting her home we realized she had ten inches of water in the sole. Apparently, my tarp had failed and exposed an open hatch after a storm. My first instinct was to blame the trailer people... but, whose fault was it really? Mine, ours... we alone are responsible for our boats. Not the harbormaster (I sank the same boat twice in a marina due to ice on the deck and a breach. You would have thought I would have learned the first time, the harbormaster isn't going to check your boat in an ice storm... should he? Yes. Can you count on him? No).

People always tell me "boats are a pain it never ends..." and it doesn't that's what we signed up for. Well some of us anyway. And for the ones complaining that "it's too much work", "it's a money pit", "it's a hole..." I've heard them all. Well as for them, we can thank them for the steady stream of cheap cruising sailboats that I will gladly take off their hands... when we are ready to commit.



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Oct 22, 2014
20,995
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Todd folks who talk about boats in that fashion often a short time from a RV.

I’m on a dock in Victoria Canada. They have an assortment of boats being used as live aboard’s. Some may make a variety of room options for your project.
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272390EF-2E47-4C20-8600-99B54347874F.jpeg A3462375-A727-4559-9C36-4CBBF5633232.jpeg
This one has a Sun Deck living room for those special evenings.

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The “Junk” sports a wide beam and a huge living space on the stern.

83DD660D-8298-4D60-822C-CB3ED653156A.jpeg 332B2DCA-2BE4-4F51-BE1A-091FFBA8B0D4.jpeg 9BDCE5A3-D23C-46B8-A167-B44B25B75584.jpeg
 
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Jan 25, 2017
147
Macgregor V222 Kentucky Lake
Nice pictures John... Like I said earlier in this post. It's coming if it hasn't happened already. And heck if the sea levels keep rising we'll be ahead of the game!