NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/rec/boats/7951

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-17 | 2.9 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!gator!nlbbs!mmp!mmp
From: [e-mail] (Lou McIntosh)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: wood or glass?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 05:52:32 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Distribution: world
Organization: Maine Meeting Place * 207-324-5310 * Maine's Disabilities Network
Lines: 43

 > In article <[e-mail]>
 >  [e-mail] (Kevin Giansante) writes:
 > > nobody seems to be able to tell me what it's realistic
 > >to expect of, say, a twenty-to-thirty-year-old fiberglass hull, or what
 > >might be involved in refurbishing a neglected glass boat.
 >
 > Wooden Boat magazine had an article some time back comparing the costs
 > of maintaining a wooden boat versus the cost of maintaining a glass
 > boat. The article presumed that you would have a yard do most of
 > the work, and was pretty thorough, in typical WB fashion. Surprisingly,
 > to me anyway, the costs came out pretty even.
 >
 > On the other hand, I have an Alberg 30 (glass) and my brother has
 > a 1941 Hinckley Islander (31', wood) in the next slip. We both do a lot
 > of our own work, and he works a hell of a lot more than I. I think
 > the extra work is worth it to have a lovely wooden boat. In fact,
 > my next boat will be wood.

        Having grown up in a boatyard, I can't resist this one ... Assuming
the wood boat and glass boat are comparably maintained, the difference in
costs of GOOD maintenance are negligible for the first few years, because
most maintenance addresses the systems and the rig;  costs of GOOD
maintenance continue to be comparable for a long time IF you don't let the
rainwater get started on its trip down into the frameheads ... but that's
difficult to do;  many allegedly wonderful yards don't understand how to
keep fresh water out of a wooden hull.  After the first two years of neglect
or careless maintenance, costs for the wooden hull begin to rise
geometrically.  The Wooden Boat article assumed that this process had not
yet begun.
        I'm a wooden-boat partisan, but if someone told me I was going to be
given a twenty-five-year-old hull, sight unseen, I'd hope it was glass;  I'd
also hope it was solid glass, uncored, and built before the manufacturers
started to lighten up on the scantlings to save money.  In that case, I'd
figure on having a fairly good boat -- after replacing the engine, fuel tank,
water tank, electrical system, and probably the standing rigging -- unless
someone had beaten me to it.  Of course, those expenses go equally for the
wooden hull.  Cosmetically, the major difference is that if the glass hull
looks shabby you can still go sailing in it -- but if the wooden hull looks
shabby, you better not.
        "The single most important characteristic to be sought in a boat is --
youth."

Lou McIntosh--Maine Meeting Place--(207)[e-mail]