BoatBanter.com - Further ruminations on the GB 42...

Steve wrote:
A Grand Banks woody anything, taken care of anyone with 30% dedication,
makes the Tupperware junk look like what it is. Bought my 1st ever
Tupperware boat in August 2006...............will never do that again.
Plastic boats are like blow-up sheep.

Provided you can find the one in 100 that has been meticulously
maintained for the last 35 years, (good luck!), and have the self
discipline and budget to continue doing so.

A friend of mine is a marine engineer and an experienced surveyor. He
bought a 50-foot Alaskan by American Marine (big brother boat to the
Grand Banks series, and made of wood). After owning the boat a couple
of years, he decided to put it in the yard last spring to address a few
things. It's still there, with a long list of expensive surprises and
discoveries that have been and remain to be addressed. He hasn't had
covered moorage, and much of what is coming out at this time wasn't
apparent when he as well as a highly respected independent surveyor
examined the vessel prior to his purchase.

Would it be correct to say that all of the most respected names in the
marine industry, and those few manufacturers who build up to the
highest available standard and not down to some targeted price point
are steadfastly turning out wooden hulls? If wood is as superior to
laminated composite construction as you indicate in your comments, one
would have to assume that would be the case.

I love wooden boats. The old classics are some of my favorite vessels.
However, the wooden boat is increasingly becoming a lot like an antique
or classic automobile; something ideally suited to take to a classic
boat rendezvous or toodle around the lake with on a sunny afternoon,
but far too impractically expensive to use for regular, daily
transportation.

If a buyer has the interest, the skills, the time and the money....(and
the less interest, skill, and time available the more money will be
required)....being owned by a wooden boat can be a very rewarding and
fulfilling experience. That group of folks should seek out and own
wooden boats, but for the generally unskilled population unwilling to
spend an hour or more in maintenance for each hour spent on the water
owning a wooden boat can be a real ngihtmare. I've personally seen the
ownership of an older wooden boat sour more than a few newbies on
boating in general over the years. What a shame.