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Wood or GRP? |
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Bootscooter 
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Joined: 15 May 07 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1094 |
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 Topic: Wood or GRP?Posted: 30 Dec 12 at 11:49pm |
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Obviously this isn't aimed at Grumph, but I was wondering about the practicalities of owning and racing a wood built boat theses days...
Have modern materials/paints/treatments made ownership and maintenance less labour intensive? If you were going to spent £1K or so on a boat for Club and Open racing would you rather it was wooden or plastic?
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Lukepiewalker
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Joined: 24 May 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1341 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 1:24am |
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Do you have a decent indoor storage location?
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Ex-Finn GBR533 "Pie Hard"
Ex-National 12 3253 "Seawitch" Ex-National 12 2961 "Curved Air" Ex-Mirror 59096 "Voodoo Chile" |
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SoggyBadger
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Joined: 26 Oct 10 Location: The Wild Wood Online Status: Offline Posts: 552 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 8:11am |
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An old wooden boat is likely to be stiffer than an old GRP boat.
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Best wishes from deep in the woods
SB |
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Paramedic
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Joined: 27 Jan 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 929 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 8:27am |
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A wooden boat in reasonably good condition will be better for racing than an old single skin grp example in all cases. The water gets muddy when classes went frp.
However for £1k youre unlikely to get an frp hull that you'd want anyway! Get the best wooden example you can afford. I have a bit of a theory that as long as you use the boat, or at least uncover it, regularly it'll be fine. It's when they stand for weeks and months on end that you start getting issues. Obviously you'll need to keep on top of the upkeep.
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winging it
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Joined: 22 Mar 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3958 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 8:38am |
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hmm, most of my boats fall under that budget figure, but the split is as follows.
wood = 3 moths, a classic 14, my composite contender grp = kestrel, megabyte, prototype, ToY what I notice about the kestrel(s) is that although a touch 'younger' than the classic 14, the hulls have deteriorated far more. As has been said, the wood will reward good care and if looked after properly should stay stiff for longer. If those kestrels were equivalent age woodies that had been well looked after the woodies would be better boats. The contender - lovely wooden decks - and the megabyte - all plastic - were my latest 'expensive' purchases. My main worry with the contender is damaging the decks with the trapeze hook. I am confident if I do I can fix it, and I know the boat to be very well built using top quality materials, so it's pretty robust. (Gosling built around 2005) I am a lot lazier with the megabyte because it is plastic and I know it to be fairly tough, plus easy to fix. I am planning to buy a newish racing boat in 2013 and don't expect it to be wood just becuase the classes I'm looking at aren't built that way. Go for wood if you are happy to cover up properly and have the facilities and skills to do the reapirs yourself. Edited by winging it - 31 Dec 12 at 8:39am |
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the same, but different...
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Do Different
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Joined: 26 Jan 12 Location: North Online Status: Offline Posts: 1312 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 8:48am |
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Paramedic
 For anyone keen enough to care, sail often and do Opens but needs a budget boat wood is likely to be much more rewarding of effort.
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rogerd
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Joined: 25 May 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1076 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 9:46am |
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+1 paramedic
Like Nessa I have plenty of wooden boats. To my shame the family gp has sat outside under a cover for to long and not beeen used. Now she really does need some tlc. You can over winter a boat outside but turn her upside down and raise her off the ground. Put a sheet over her but raise it up off the hull as much as you can. I have a piece of wood the length of the boat which is supported at each end. The key is to keep the airflow all around the boat and not let the sheet hold damp against the wood.
Of course ideally you want to keep her inside but that isnt always possible. If she is in good condition in the first place routine care may be a coat or two of varnish and or paint once a year. If you get a ding particularly if she is covered in epoxy make sure it is dry and put a drop of paint of varnish on it straight away. There are some good tips on varnishing on the cvrda site.
I am lucky I have just built a shed where I can get three boats inside(one slung from the roof) and just about have room to work.
There will always be more work than with a grp boat but the woody will be stiffer and not as heavy.
Use a breathable cover and try to find ways of keeping contact with the deck to a minimum keep the bungs out and make sure she is bow up to stop water gathering in the hull.
A word of warning woden boats are addictive. They have a way of making you get very attached to them and you may end up as a wood botherer.
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alstorer
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Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 11:24am |
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With GRP, it really does depend on what that "P" is. Whilst it is cheap, that's really the only thing polyesters have going for them- they have poor fatigue life and are susceptible to water take up, especially if the gelcoat is damaged. Vinyl esters are better, but not perfect, as the soft side decks of the RS100s have shown. Epoxy is more expensive again, but generally does have better performance with that extra cost. Beyond the standard boat building epoxies you can get into some slightly more exotic materials- for instance Hexcel M79, which I've helped develop, would potentially be suitable for smaller builders- it cures very well at 75 degrees C at atmospheric pressure so doesn't require particularly exotic tooling or an autoclave- but as far as I know is only being offered at higher fibre weights- 1200gsm UD glass is not really that suitable for small boat building! (end of not-exactly-an-advert-given-I've-just-said-it-isn't-available-in-suitable-form) |
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-_
Al |
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2547
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Joined: 11 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1151 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 12:42pm |
Is there a problem with them?
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Daniel Holman
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Joined: 17 Nov 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 997 |
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Posted: 31 Dec 12 at 1:37pm |
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Thought they were epoxy?
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