biz wrote:
Hi group

OK, now I've exhausted my search around usenet and the wider web for
information on this topic I thought I'd post for some fresh thoughts and
ideas.

I'm considering buying a wooden boat as a liveaboard, and I have some
major concerns. Almost everyone I come across - surveyors, brokers,
finance houses, insurance companies, usenet posters - seems to balk at
it to lesser or greater degrees. It seems established that they require
regular and vigilant maintenance. I don't want to buy a money pit, and
two marinas I've come across are so fed up with people abandoning wooden
boats they won't allow them. Any thoughts on this?

I've been quoted GBP950 (about $1800) for a survey on the hard, and the
surveyor will do an initial walk-through to see if it's worth going
ahead even to that stage. It's 45 feet long, and is carvel constructed.
I don't yet know the year or specific hull material. The beams are
about 2" x 2". I'm going to go along tomorrow and try to have as many
of the floorboards up as possible so that I can go through with a
bradawl and check for sponginess.

Think I should not risk it and try and find myself a nice tongue in
cheekeasy/ steel-shell?

Biz

There is nothing wrong with wooden boats except
that wood may deteriorate in water and is food for
some water creatures.

On the positive side:

1) they are easy to maintain if you know what
to do and how to do it.
2) The materials are easy to work with and
readily available.
3) Fairly large wooden boats are usually
available at a small fraction of the cost for a
similar fiberglass boat. (At our marina one of
the tenants was living aboard a 60' wooden boat
that was given to him after he rescued it when it
sank at the dock.)

In order to make them easier to maintain, some
wooden boat owners cover the outside of the hull
with a fairly thin layer of fiberglass to keep the
water and critters away. There are many workboats
that have been treated in this way.

If a wood boat is what you want, I'd say go ahead
and get one. You'll know within a few years
whether it is still what you want ;-)

Luck,

Don W.

Don W wrote:

In order to make them easier to maintain, some wooden boat owners cover
the outside of the hull with a fairly thin layer of fiberglass to keep
the water and critters away. There are many workboats that have been
treated in this way.

Thanks for that, Don. My very first foray into wooden boat maintenance
was to buy a 1950's GP14 sailing dinghy last summer. On telling an
expert it had been sheathed in glass fibre, his response was "it's a
write-off". He said the only reason you'd sheath a wooden boat in glass
is if the rot has gone beyond repair and you want to eek a couple more
seasons out of it.

Also, I thought glass would prevent the wood from expanding and lead to
it busting itself apart? It seems like such an easy solution, but I've
read that it's death to a wooden boat.

If a wood boat is what you want, I'd say go ahead and get one. You'll
know within a few years whether it is still what you want ;-)

My worst scenario is getting a loan to pay for the boat, being unable to
fund the ongoing repairs and maintenance and landing up with nowhere to
live. Quite a lot riding on the risk, you might think!!