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On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 17:33:13 GMT, wrote:
So if I want to sail to Tahiti and South East Asia
one day (would it be a bad idea to get a fiberglass
boat (like a Tayana) or is this what most people do
anyway ?
No...no...not at all. Let's face it, most of the boats under 50 feet
today are fibreglass, particularly out of North America.
There is nothing wrong with fibreglass per se. When done correctly (as
can be said of ANY hull material, including the much disparaged
ferro-concrete). a fibreglass boat can be safe, fast and reasonable to
maintain.
However....G
If you look at the boats that ACTUALLY TRAVEL THE WORLD, as opposed to
those found in crowded Carribean anchorages, you will find a
substantial portion of them are metal, usually steel, but frequently
aluminum. By this I mean WORLD travel (including the far less popular
high latitudes).
From this, you can draw a couple of obsevations, not conclusions:
Metal boats are popular with people in oceanic cruising, long-distance
passagemaking and high-latitude travel. For the sake of argument, if
95 out of 100 boats *capable* of passagemaking are fibreglass in a
given anchorage, with the rest wood or metal, the odds are much
stronger to my knowledge that of those boats ACTUALLY PASSAGEMAKING,
perhaps 30 to 40 per cent will be metal or wood (cold-molded, etc.)
This does not necessarily mean that metal boats, for instance, are
more appropriate for passagemaking than fibreglass.
It could mean, however, that whatever causes an owner to choose metal,
also drives the decision to travel the world and not drop anchor in
Margaritaville. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Metal has some severe disadvantages relating to coatings, maintenance,
weight and design. Metal boats (not aluminum) can be slower and uglier
to some eyes.
Advantages include ease of repair (if steel, the owner can self-repair
after learning basic welding) ease of customization, brute strength,
potential safety margin, and so on.
Finally, I own a cored deck, fibreglass boat which I enjoy. But I am
sourcing steel boats for world travel. That's me. If you GAVE me a
Tayana, which is one of the better offshore plastic boat names to my
understanding, I wouldn't sneer for a moment. But a lot of the
fibreglass boats sold new today I wouldn't take into a 40 knot wind,
so suspicious am I of the design and construction decisions (wide
companionways, huge drinks-friendly cockpits, low lifelines, unbacked
deck gear, lack of handholds below, overly complex wiring and
plumbing, etc.) of many of today's "showboats". They look great, and
maybe they will survive a storm, but I would have better peace of mind
in something Dutch, steely and built for the North Sea or to survive a
hard grounding in coral reef.
Your mileage may of course vary. I love Dudley Dix and Robert Perry in
fibreglass, and Wallstrom/Brewer in steel, and Kanter in
aluminum/steel. There are others, but those spring to mind.
R.
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