Anybody doing any backyard boats using composites instead of wood? If so,
where are you getting your composites or are you making them?

The reason I ask is that I own several boats, and I don't care what people
say about how great wood is it has rot problems. In my climate we get
extreme heat and very dry temperatures which are hard on any material. Wood
dries out and shrinks to extremes in a climate where 20% humidty is
considered hoigh, and 120F+ temps are not uncommon.

Please don't jump all over my ignorance about using wood. I have been
reading and studying on this and other boat building topics for several
years now, and I read this group from time to time. I really just want to
learn more about composite materials that might be available for transoms
and stringers. I know about how long wood lasts, and I am somehwat familiar
with Jacques "encapsulation" process, but in the real world you make holes
in your boat and over the years holes get wallowed out from removing
changing and remounting equipment, motors, depth sounders, etc... I try to
reseal every penetration with copious use of 3M 5200, but I can see where
things can slip by. When you think in terms of years much less decades it
doesn't take much.

I had a wood transom replaced in my Skeeter bass boat last year, and the guy
I spoke with at Skeeter offered to sell us some composite material for it to
replace the wood. This really brought my attention to the use of
composites.

--
** FREE Fishing Lures
** Weekly drawing
** Public Fishing and Boating Forums
** www.YumaBassMan.com

The Gougeon Brothers started the wood encapsulation method.


There's a couple of ways you could go to make a hull with no wood.

1)Depending on the size of your boat, you could go for foam cored.
Problem is that for small boats, it's not effective because you use a
lot of resin and glass to get puncture resistence similar to wood. If
building something like a canoe, you end up with a heavier boat than if
you used cheap grade plywood.

2) You could build your own panel material by laminated sheets of
fiberglass on some plastic and letting them cure. Then you cut them to
shape like you would for a Sitch and Glue plywood boat and then assemble
in the same manner. Sort of a moldless FRP hull.

3) Airplane makers use Taylor Papar Glass (basically a thick,
uncorrugated cardboard) as a core for skin panels. You cut the paper to
shape, laminate to get some workable thickness, stitch, glue, and then
lay additional layers of glass to get the strength properties needed. I
read about a builder who made a pirogue in this manner. I'd be worried
about if the paper fibers would rot if exposed to water.

Bottom line is even though wood eventually rots if not taken care of,
there no cost similar substitute for backyard builders.

--
Matt Langenfeld
JEM Watercraft
http://www.jemwatercraft.com/




Bob La Londe wrote:
Anybody doing any backyard boats using composites instead of wood? If so,
where are you getting your composites or are you making them?

The reason I ask is that I own several boats, and I don't care what people
say about how great wood is it has rot problems. In my climate we get
extreme heat and very dry temperatures which are hard on any material. Wood
dries out and shrinks to extremes in a climate where 20% humidty is
considered hoigh, and 120F+ temps are not uncommon.

Please don't jump all over my ignorance about using wood. I have been
reading and studying on this and other boat building topics for several
years now, and I read this group from time to time. I really just want to
learn more about composite materials that might be available for transoms
and stringers. I know about how long wood lasts, and I am somehwat familiar
with Jacques "encapsulation" process, but in the real world you make holes
in your boat and over the years holes get wallowed out from removing
changing and remounting equipment, motors, depth sounders, etc... I try to
reseal every penetration with copious use of 3M 5200, but I can see where
things can slip by. When you think in terms of years much less decades it
doesn't take much.

I had a wood transom replaced in my Skeeter bass boat last year, and the guy
I spoke with at Skeeter offered to sell us some composite material for it to
replace the wood. This really brought my attention to the use of
composites.

"Bob La Londe"wrote
Anybody doing any backyard boats using composites instead of wood? If so,
where are you getting your composites or are you making them?

The reason I ask is that I own several boats, and I don't care what people
say about how great wood is it has rot problems.

There is a difference between a wooden boat covered with fiberglass
and a composite boat in which wood is used as a core.
In the case of our designs, composites with a plywood core, we get the
strength from the fiberglass skins. Those fiberglass skins are
relatively thick and we use epoxy only. For all practical purposes,
the wood core will never absorb moisture above it's normal, healthy
moisture level. Gougeon has made tests showing a very stable moisture
content after 30 years and this is with much thinner fiberglass skins
than our designs.
Use marine plywood and you should be 100% safe.
You are correct about the danger of drilling or cutting holes but
everybody should know that even in a fiberglass boat, if you cut or
drill you must coat the edges of your cut with resin.
If you expect that you will not take that precaution, consider foam
sandwich.
It works along the same princicple than our plwyood sandwich but with
a thicker core and a different fiberglass lamination schedule since we
don't have the fibers of the plywood.
Our technicians at BoatBuilderCentral.com will calculate a foam
sandwich lamination schedule for almost any boat and that service is
free if you buy the supplies from them.

Jacques
from BoatPlans-OnLine.com