Advantages Of GRP

[FORTUNATA]

Something I think about a lot. I know in the seventies GRP boats were a majority on canals. Now, they are not seen as often and, of course, there has always been a bit of snobbery over "plastic boats". However, for somebody like me who can't weld but has some basic knowledge of fibreglass moulding, GRP always seems an attractive option. I mean, should the worst case scenario come to pass and you get a small hole in the hull, it's easy to patch. I know as I fixed many a hole (where the rain gets in and stops my mind from wondering..)
The biggest plus, of course, is GRP doesn't rust like steel or rot like wood. No need for anodes either.
I guess the biggest drawback is they tend to be small and nothing like as impact resistant as steel.
Now that times are much harder than over a decade ago, I often wonder about living on a GRP boat but the one I currently own is a bit too small. Would be a bit like living in a shed.

[leeco]

I've used fibreglass making concrete moulds over the years and it's very messy but easy to use.

 

Our boat is a springer and has a steel bottom and a GRP top and we did a lot of work on it with GRP making the sides more straight.

[Neil2]

They have been built up to 40', the classic Morgan Giles cruiser built in the 1960's was something of a leviathan at the time, but the lay up on these vessels was massive. Once the price of resin rocketed in the mid 1970's building a boat like that was totally uneconomic and though I think there may well have been a market, and there may still be a market, for a grp narrowboat designed for the rough and tumble of canals, it's not going to happen now as the costs of setting up production would be too high for anyone to take the risk.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Neil2

[Naughty Cal]

You still need anodes to protect the underwater metal bits! We have four!

[John V]

Damn!! Naughty Cal beat me to it

[Guest]

There are no anodes on my GRP boat, and to date the aluminium oars don't seem to have suffered.

 

On a more serious note, I like GRP boats and may well end up with another when I am too old/skint to be doing battle with an NB.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Guest

[John V]

My "holiday" boat is a GRP narrowbeam cruiser 25.5' Ormelite about 45 years old now and still looking good. Goodness only knows how many miles it has done round the system. It has done a good few hundred over the short period I have owned it.

It doesn't need ballast with all the brass canal badges screwed up inside. There is no way I could live on it for more than a few weeks at a time although it is very well designed and equipped but some people could! On our mooring there is another almost identical Ormelite cruiser on which a young couple lived for a couple of years whilst saving for a house.....how they managed it without murdering one another I don't know!

[Phil Ambrose]

We lived on our 40ft GRP cruiser for 10 years, but she was 12ft beam.

Phil

[craftycarper]

We have a 34 ft centre cockpit dawncraft made in 1986 we use it for weekends or short breaks but for most of its life it was lived on on the mon/ brec canal in wales it has a woodburner,full cooker,fridge,double bed,shower,radio and TV and I could happily reside on it

[John V]

We lived on our 40ft GRP cruiser for 10 years, but she was 12ft beam.

Phil

 

that's probably more floor space than the average narrowboat !

[Phil Ambrose]

 

that's probably more floor space than the average narrowboat !

To be honest, if you subtracted the rear deck, fore deck plus the 18" side decks we in fact have more loor space on our 60ft narrow boat.

Having said that she was a very comfortable home for us and our 4 dogs and if she had fitted the locks here in the Fens we would. Have kept her.

Phil

[Neil2]

To be honest, if you subtracted the rear deck, fore deck plus the 18" side decks we in fact have more loor space on our 60ft narrow boat.

Having said that she was a very comfortable home for us and our 4 dogs and if she had fitted the locks here in the Fens we would. Have kept her.

Phil

Fifteen foot per dog - that sounds about right.

 

I often wonder if the oil crisis of the mid 1970's hadn't hit the industry so hard whether there might be more of a balance between grp and steel on the canals.

 

But the problem these days is that if you want to cruise the narrow canals in a grp boat there is very little to choose from over 30 foot, and as the entry level length for narrowboats seems to increase every year, these boats are just too small to have mass appeal, even if there are a number of advantages to grp.

[John V]

You are probably right about the oil crisis, yet it doesn't seem to have had the same effect on salt water.

 

I have just been having a mental count up of boats on this mooring,we're fairly well down at the cheap end as they are all drying berths.

 

Out of about 250 boats 3% steel 20% wood and the rest grp the sizes of boats vary with the biggest about 100' (wood)

 

Quite a good proportion of the grp boats are in the 35 - 50' range

[geoffwales]

I like my Viking 23 grp as its relatively easy to maintain. However if i had the funds, time and space i would like a metal narrow boat. But i have a question which i dont want to spark a row over.

 

Would a springer be more robust than GRP as these always seem more affordable and could be a way of me getting a steely later on ?

[John V]

The great advantage of steel over grp is the fact that steel buckles when grp cracks

the great disadvantage of steel against grp is the fact that steel corrodes.

A Springer still with its original steel thickness would absorb more damage than a grp of normal build quality neither would be likely to sink from collisions at canal speeds.

you pays yer money and takes yer chance

[Phil Ambrose]

I like my Viking 23 grp as its relatively easy to maintain. However if i had the funds, time and space i would like a metal narrow boat. But i have a question which i dont want to spark a row over.

 

Would a springer be more robust than GRP as these always seem more affordable and could be a way of me getting a steely later on ?

I would be inclined to say yes, Springer would be more robust.

Phil

[Naughty Cal]

I would be inclined to say yes, Springer would be more robust.

Phil

I would say it depends how well the springer has been looked after and what condition the hull is in.

 

The Viking will take more kindly to being left in the water with little in the way of maintenance. (I'm not saying this us what you would do by the way!)

[FORTUNATA]

I would be inclined to say yes, Springer would be more robust.

Phil

A lot more robust, I think. I was shocked when drilling through my GRP hull to fix a rubbing strake. Took a second or two with a 10 quid DIY drill. However, to be fair that boat stood for 12 years at a mooring covered in moss and never sank, despite steel boats passing by for years on end.

To level with you all, the guy who posted above about considering GRP when his funds may diminish later in life, I think that's me. I don't have the money I had in the past to comfortably maintain a larger steel boat. There is the blacking, anodes, and it nags me a bit my hull could let me down as it was an overplated hull and an oldish seventies boat. The hull on my GRP although not as strong seems O.K. and not even any osmosis. The main problem is only it's too small but building a wheelhouse and installing electrics would help it look a decent vessel.I've had people sometimes come in and they always say, "Hey, this is bigger than I thought, you could live in this!" And that gets me thinking again. No anodes, less licence (smaller size), less insurance (my company upped insurance on the steel), no need to worry about rust or even rain in the bilge.

At least I'd be different and a throwback to the seventies era.

[Naughty Cal]

You will need anodes on your outboard or stern drive otherwise it will just fizz away.

 

The thickness of GRP varies depending on how strong it needs to be.

 

NC's stern is nearly two inches thick where the stern drive fits to cope with the stress of 170hp going to the props. The bow is also thick to cope with water impact, however areas like the cabin sides and roof are nowhere near as thick. They don't need to be.

 

Doesn't make it flimsy though.

[FORTUNATA]

You will need anodes on your outboard or stern drive otherwise it will just fizz away.

 

The thickness of GRP varies depending on how strong it needs to be.

 

NC's stern is nearly two inches thick where the stern drive fits to cope with the stress of 170hp going to the props. The bow is also thick to cope with water impact, however areas like the cabin sides and roof are nowhere near as thick. They don't need to be.

 

Doesn't make it flimsy though.

I do have small anodes on the outboard, yes. However, the boat isn't yet in the water but hope it will be and not sink in the process (did the rubbing strakes on it)

[Naughty Cal]

So you do need anodes?

 

Ps: I personally wouldn't add a wheelhouse to the boat. DIY wheel houses in cruisers rarely look right.

 

A good set if canopies would be better.

[Neil2]

So you do need anodes?

 

Ps: I personally wouldn't add a wheelhouse to the boat. DIY wheel houses in cruisers rarely look right.

 

A good set if canopies would be better.

That is so true, and it will affect the stability.