But there are better materials and most of them are not subject to water
intrusion or rotting. The biggest weakness in most fiberglass boats is the
wood. If it was not for the wood a properly constructed fiberglass boat
would last forever. Anyone buying a new boat today should be considering no
wood models seriously.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Lawrence James wrote:

I suggest you take a look at some standard floor joist simple span
tables
and see just what it takes to span 10 feet. Conventional wood is not
very
resistant to flexing. A lot of other things are stronger.

Well, of course, but that's not the point, is it? The point is that
properly designed, implemented and installed, wood floor joists are
strong enough. And that's all they have to be. As to the flexing issues,
my house has built-up "truss" joists of wood, and my floors don't flex
to the point you'd notice it. Further, large areas of the main and
second floors of my house are covered in ceramic and marble tile,
installed the usual way, and we have no cracks in the mortar or tile. If
there were substantial flexing of the wood subfloor (held up by wood
trusses), we'd have some mortar cracks.




An all composite, no wood boat is a lot better than one with wood in it.

Again, I suggest you take that up with Grady-White and other
manufacturers of small pleasure boats who continue to use wood in the
construction of their boats. GW can build boats any way it chooses,
without worrying too much about price points, since it already is at the
top of the price chart. It chooses wood.


Just because a lot of boats have been made with wood does not make it
good.
It just means it is cheap and easy.

It's easier to build a small boat's structure of composites or foam. The
stuff can come out of a mold and be glued into the boat. No special
skills required.






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