..... is generally not necessary annually, but such boats will typically
need repainting about every 4 or 5 years to keep them looking bristol.

Depends on the environment, how it's cleaned, etc etc.

Maxprop wrote:
Up here in the GLs it probably isn't required as frequently as in the south,
but topside paint will dull or chalk with no care, and it will become very
thin if buffed annually. It also tends to crack or craze when applied over
wood.


Right, and I think that's because of heat expansion/contraction.


... A sanding and painting, if properly done, will take well over 20
hours or preparation and another 4-6 hours of masking and painting. Glass
(4-5 years): up to 15 hours maximum, Wood (same period): 24 hours
minimum.


I disagree that wood will need repainting every 4 ~ 5 years.


It all depends upon how bristol you want your wooden boat to appear. If you
don't repaint at least twice every decade you don't stand a chance of having
topsides as glossy or smooth as those of a well-buffed glass boat.


Well, it would take a full-time staff to keep even a medium
size wooden boat to look totally gold-plated & spit-shined.
At some point, you have to be a realist even with fiberglass
boats.




Brightwork: most recent glass boats have none. Most wooden boats have
acres.

"Most"?? There is no need for a wooden boat to have any varnish. It's
optional. For a fair comparison, why not try a fiberglass boat like a
Tayana with a wooden boat like a skipjack?


I think we were talking about *average* boats. Certainly a skipjack is not
typical (unless you live on or near the Chesapeake), nor is a Tayana or Hans
Christian. More like wooden Cheoy Lee vs. Catalina.


And that's a matter of marketing, but isn't inherent in a
wooden boat. Lots of old Herrshoffs & Hinckleys have
relatively little brightwork.


Or, since wooden production boats averaged much smaller, why not compare a
40+ foot fiberglass production boat (average size) with a 26 ~ 30 foot
wooden boat?


Huh? Who said we were talking about wooden production boats? Most were
custom or semi-custom, especially in the medium to larger size ranges.

Not really. Herreshoff & Nevins had fairly modern production
lines, not to mention Beetle & Concordia. They couldn't pump
them out in the mass numbers, nor would there have been a
market to accept that many. But they were just as much a
mass-produced commodity as Hunters & Beneteaus.

Many fewer survived, which is in the nature of wooden boats,
so those still around are rare classics.





You're right that seams often need attention, but a wooden boat bottom
does not need to be sanded every year unless you're a fanatic. And I
stated at the outset that fanatacism should be excluded from this
comparison.


Hmm. I guess your definition of *fanatic* and mine differ. Both my wooden
boats required annual sanding to be relative smooth and free of fairly
severe paint irregularities.

???

Are you talking about taking them down to wood? Or just
taking off overcoating? Sounds like you might have had some
problem I'm not familiar with.


.... I will concede that many wooden boat owners
just slop on another coat of whatever paint happens to be sitting around in
cans in the garage. But those boats looked neglected topside as well, for
the most part. I guess I never thought I was fanatical about my boats. I
just wanted them to look good, if not perfect.


It's a boat, it's never perfect. And since I have raced
almost every boat I've ever owned, the bottom & the rig
always get lots of attention. But a wooden boat doesn't take
that much more care of the bottom, or shouldn't IMHO.


Deck and house: glass: virtually no work required, beyond a bath,

Really? No recaulking of ports & hatches? No rebedding of deck fittings?
No gel coat touch-up? No replacing crazed Lexan?


That falls under the heading of repairs, not routine maintenance.

And I thought part of your point was that wooden boats need
regular repairs & fiberglass boats don't?



wood: similar, except when the Dynel or canvas needs to be replaced,
which is a multi-week job encompassing many hours. Then painting is
necessary. If the deck is wood (common with wooden boats, rare with
fiberglass) a certain minimum amount of maintenance is necessary
annually.


I dunno, we own a fiberglass boat that had a teak deck until quite
recently. Right now I'm hopefully about 3/5 thru replacing it with
fiberglass, including rebuilding a few sections with rotten core. How's
that for your comparison?


The point was that wood decks are fairly rare in glass boats, but ubiquitous
on wooden boats. Once again, the glass boats in this comparison are
generally high production boats, such as Catalinas, Hunters, Beneteaus,
Jenneaus, Pearsons, Ericsons, etc. Not a whole lot of wood decks among
those.


Many Jeanneaus have teak decks. In fact I think it's a more
expensive option to get the fake plastic teak...

Anyway repair of deck core is a common issue for fiberglass
boats, so there's one more item to level the playing field.
And I have personally put plywood/fiberglass decks on boats
that to my knowledge have lasted 15 years with no trouble.
Not an uncommon scenario, unless you're a fanatic that has
to have either laid planks or canvas duck with *just* the
right amount of paint in it.




You can't simply dismiss those maintenance items.

I wasn't intending to dismiss them, just point out that the scary things
about wood boat ownership are not monthly occurences.


But when they do occur they can be very scary. At least the yard bills can
induce coronaries.


Agreed, if you can't do it yourself.

However I don't think that a person who can't do (or is
willing to learn) most of the work himself should not have a
boat, wood or fiberglass. Unless you don't mind pouring out
money like water so as to have a nice toy.


.... Pay me now, or pay me later is the mantra
of wooden boat ownership. A neglected fiberglass boat can be brought back
to a fairly clean and attractive level of condition with some buffing,
cleaning, and minimal repairs. A neglected wooden boat will require
immensely more time and money to accomplish the same task.

If it can be done at all.

At some point, the only thing that can be done is get a team
of marine archeologists to build a new boat piece by piece
in the place of the old one, and pretend it's the same
boat... or take out in the back yard and use as a
self-mulching planter.


... Most wooden boats are neglected

Most boats are neglected, period.


To some degree, perhaps, but most owners do the minimally-required
maintenance at least.

Right, and that's what skews the *perception* against wooden
boats.

To repeat- to keep a wooden boat in good working order is
not much more work than to keep a fiberglass boat of similar
size & equipage in Bristol shape.

You keep trying to bring up major repairs, which fiberglass
boats need too (and I'd one HECK of a lot rather saw wood
than grind fiberglass), or say that fiberglass can be neglected.



The annual Wooden Boat Show, sponsored by Wooden Boat magazine, was at South
Haven, MI, a few years back. I attended two seminars at that show--one
about dinghy building, and the other about wooden boat maintenance. The
instructor in the second one summed it up best when he opened his talk with,
"If you dislike working on boats, buy something made of plastic."


Like a Corvette?

One thing I wanted to say- you mentioned the sounds of
sailing a wooden boat: it's very different from any other,
and it's awesome. My boats didn't creak very much, but the
sound of water rushing by the hull was very different, and
there was a sort of purring as the rig & hull transferred
stresses back & forth. A lovely addition to the sailing
experience.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King