Jump to content

What makes wooden boats difficult?


Jennarasion

Featured Posts

The way the OP was worded I had it down as someone who was looking for a boat to live on and had been offered a wooden craft so they asked on the forum about it. 

 

Other than forum input it rapidly becomes clear that wooden boats are for fusiasts and people with money. 

 

For a liveaboard craft the problems will be huge and uncomfortable unless you are a fusiast and have money. 

 

 

For some reason I don't think it was somebody looking for a nice little weekend motorcruiser. 

 

Could be wrong !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking now at his previous posts on threads about being offered a boat which was almost certainly a scam, deciding that a survey is a waste of money, and now disregading advice that wooden boats need a faily permanent injection of money, sadly I think you are correct and he really wants people to tell him how lucky he is to have these cheap boats being thrown at him all the time. Unfortunately that means he is simply a rather disillusioned time waster.

 

I'd be happy for him to come back and tell me I'm wrong, but .........🤷‍♂️

 

Tam

Edited by Tam & Di
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tam & Di said:

There was quite a bit of helpful comment plus the usual jokey stuff - about Noah's Ark in this case. Then stagedamagerer posted the above which was very to the point. Sadly this was also the last time the OP was on-line looking at the thread, so I guess either he did not see it or decided not to bother - a pity either way, but it does seem to happen a lot, and does influence the sort of replies the next enquiry of a similar nature receives.

 

Tam

 

I was trying to make a point that if they had been offered a plywood cruiser then someone specialising in oak planked hulls wouldn't necessarily be able to offer the best advice etc..... and no offence was meant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, stagedamager said:

 

I was trying to make a point that if they had been offered a plywood cruiser then someone specialising in oak planked hulls wouldn't necessarily be able to offer the best advice etc..... and no offence was meant.

 

That is why I asked him what type of boat it was very soon after he started the thread. I agree, there is a world of difference between a wooden narrowboat, wooden narrow beam cruiser and so on, My guess is that he really does not comprehend what the term "wooden boat" covers. It could even mean the toy my son and I built for his bath.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Data point: For 11 years I owned a seagoing sailboat that most people would think of as a GRP boat. However... The interior was nicely built of teak and plywood. That thing was a nightmare to keep functional, let alone good looking. So as far as I'm concerned wooden boats are wonderful and everybody else should own one. Nowadays I sail somebody else's all-GRP boat and the only wooden piece is the tiller (it needs a new tiller). Lesson learned.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If wooden boats are your thing, then  planning is underway for significant wooden boat festival here in Auckland during March next year. 

Modelled on, and complimenting,  the very successful longstanding Hobart festival. The plan is that it will follow the commercial onwater Auckland Boat Show, and precede? the Sailing GP races.

So no specifically inland waterways craft but plenty of restored 19thC and early 20th C racing, recreational and work boats plus hopefully a few WW2 built inshore naval craft. One exhibit that will certainly be there is the 1913 built, now restored pleasure launch Nautilus that was requisitioned as a tender for the hospital ship Marama and saw service in Gallopoli evacuating injured from the battlefields. 

 

Back on topic and to echo what others have said, just maintaining a wooden boat, let alone restoring one, is neither for the faint hearted nor the poor.

Hence so many depend on syndicated ownership,  charitable trusts or museums, and lots of volunteer labour for their continuing existence let alone operation. 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Bobbybass said:

I followed a wooden boat up to the Llangollen.... Over the years it's hull had swollen.

 

Its not just wooden boats - in the last 50 years my girth has greatly increased, & so has my weight (by about 40%) Most of it since I retired 20 years ago 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Bobbybass said:

I followed a wooden boat up to the Llangollen.... Over the years it's hull had swollen.

 

It repeatedly got stuck in narrow locks...

An old problem. In the late 1940's, Tom Rolt took his wooden narrowboat Cressy up the Llangollen. It was officially closed to boats, but still in use, then as now, as a feeder from the River Dee to the reservoirs at Hurleston. From memory, without re-reading the account, to get through Grindley Brook locks, he had to use a wood plane to trim off the high spots after an attempt to ram the boat in to the lock chamber at speed resulted in it getting stuck and having to be pulled out with a block and tackle. The lock chamber walls having moved was the more likely root cause. The tale is in The Clouded Mirror, a good read, especially if you are annoyed about lack of maintenance and canal decrepitude by CaRT today. Puts things in to perspective.

If anything, the ability to "adjust" a wooden boat to fit the infrastructure is actually an advantage over steel!

Jen

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

If anything, the ability to "adjust" a wooden boat to fit the infrastructure is actually an advantage over steel!

 

Only the first few times!  By the time the hull is becoming translucent it's best to stop ...

 

  • Greenie 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boating with a block and tayckle(correct pronunciation) sounds a lot more fun than boating without. 

 

I carry a lugall winch and yars ago had a nice Tirfor on the boat but rarely needed it. 

 

I suppose if the canals fall into disrepair over time these things might be needed once again and it will be a fusiasts paradise. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wooden boats and tirfors are OK if you can fit enough solid bits of boat to attach the wire to.  I seem to recall that David Blagrove pulled the fore end T- stud out of Friendship when adventuring with Enterprise and Joe Skinner.

 

N

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, magnetman said:

Boating with a block and tayckle(correct pronunciation) sounds a lot more fun than boating without. 

 

I carry a lugall winch and yars ago had a nice Tirfor on the boat but rarely needed it. 

 

I suppose if the canals fall into disrepair over time these things might be needed once again and it will be a fusiasts paradise. 

 

 

But half of the boat owners today wouldn't know how to use one

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Ian Mac said:

Just to put thing in prospective, our new counter block cost  just over £5000 shaped and delivered. Total docking bill just over £10K,  have not done the labour sum yet, but at a guess about 1/2man year of effort, which we the owners and our friends did.

Wooden boats are not cheap, and require a considerable skill set, if your going to manage the cost, time, quality equation.

 

Hi Ian,

 

In no way questioning your figures or approach - you work with what you have available and what works for the group of owners. Hence I also wholeheartedly agree with your comment regarding skill set and the time/quality/cost equation.

 

However, if you can access the right skill set and equipment, it is sometimes possible to considerably reduce cost. For example, I roughed out the counter block for Pelican in half a day, made the stem post for Hagley from a log to a finished post in a day (mostly by adze and side axe after the chainsaw packed up) and drilled the stern post for the prop shaft in a couple of hours. The timber for each was zero cost. My point being, the 'free labour' part of the owners or friends putting in the effort can go a very long way to cutting costs (if you have the right friends!)

 

The next phase of work on Samson will require a lot of shearing and several replacement knees made from naturally grown curves. That would cost a huge amount in materials, but in practice will cost nothing because of what can be accessed in the way of materials and equipment, just a lot of time.


Alec

Edited by agg221
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the OP in this topic may have been talking about a different sort of wooden boat. 

 

An old broads cruiser would be my random guess as these arrr frequently offered for sale as 'liver bored' boats. They turn you to drink. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

I think the OP in this topic may have been talking about a different sort of wooden boat. 

 

An old broads cruiser would be my random guess as these arrr frequently offered for sale as 'liver bored' boats. They turn you to drink. 

 

 

As he doesn't want to tell us we will never know 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, magnetman said:

I think the OP in this topic may have been talking about a different sort of wooden boat. 

 

An old broads cruiser would be my random guess as these arrr frequently offered for sale as 'liver bored' boats. They turn you to drink.

 

If so, the OP just might be right about the wood being cheaper than steel. A lot seemed to be made from soft wood with stain cum varnish to make them look like hard wood. The planks were also a lot thinner than narrowboats. However, although I think shaping the planks might be easier, they seemed to be carvel built so need caulking. A lot also seemed to be screwed rather than nailed and roved so the fixings tended to work loose. That is before one starts to think about keeping the superstructure rain proof.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Steel cabin. 

 

There is a really interesting wooden boat in the bushes below Marlow lock on the Thames. 

 

It has been there for about 3 yars now and does not look all that cared for. I assume someone checks it now and again but by no means certain. 

 

Teak hull and a steel cabin. It is a belligerent floating boat. Quite a nice boat really possibly ex naval pinnace. This is how one describes quality old wooden boats one is not sure about. Gardner 5LW in it. 

 

The cabin is the key on a lot of wooden boats. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Quite a nice boat really possibly ex naval pinnace.

 

My first liver board was one of thems! Double diagonal teak on oak ribs, then converted into what is now known as a "gentleman's cruiser" by the addition of three feet more freeboard and a full length wooden superstructure. 

 

 Pretty sure it was anyway, having looked closely at exactly what a "naval pinnace' actually is. 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 01/05/2023 at 17:09, Barneyp said:

 

And "the right boatyard" doesn't exist, there isn't a big enough market for a commercial boatyard to specialise in wooden boats, they all do steel boats. 

There are boatyards about that are fully capable of working and repairing wooden boats as well as steel. RW Davis at Saul has done numerous wooden boats. Maybe because they are a good old fashioned boatbuilder doing commercial as well as pleasure work. 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Steve56 said:

There are boatyards about that are fully capable of working and repairing wooden boats as well as steel. RW Davis at Saul has done numerous wooden boats. Maybe because they are a good old fashioned boatbuilder doing commercial as well as pleasure work. 

Trevethicks in Nottingham have wooden boats as a speciality. Often see one being worked on when passing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.