wooden boat designs

First, and for some this may be neither here nor there, but a wooden sailboat is more attractive. The shine of teak wood shimmering against the water is an age old sight that invokes thoughts of freedom and the sea. Fibreglass, while more easily coloured, does not bring the same traditional beauty to sailing.

Secondly, a wooden sailboat feels more solid. Ask any veteran of sailing and they will tell you that there is no feel quite like that of a wooden sailboat. The stiffer wood lets the sailboat feel more solid in the water and thus a little bit safer.

Third, a wood boat is much easier to modify than a fibreglass boat. Should you need to make adjustments to your boat, you need only lumber treated for boat use and little know-how. With fibreglass, you are looking at either an impossible job or one that will require a lot of time and money in comparison to your wooden boat.

Because wood is able to absorb and release water, a wooden sailboat will actually get less condensation and dampness on it than a fibreglass one. This means less dampness to deal with inside and out. A dry boat is more fun that a wet one.

Fourth, wood is natures best boat building material, its weight/strength ratio is only surpassed by high tech composites.

Finally, with the use of Epoxy resin to saturate the surfaces, wooden sailboats actually need much less maintenance than their fibreglass brethren. Despite all the technology we have, a fibreglass boat will deteriorate continually with age, and there is little that can be done to prevent it. On the other hand, a wooden boat can last for decades in good safe condition. You need only an annual maintenance check to keep them looking and floating like brand new.

Along those same lines, wooden boats are usually more environmental-friendly. The production of fibreglass produces a lot of waste in and of itself. That is not to mention the disposal of said fibreglass as the boat deteriorates. On the other hand, wood production is not as pollutant-causing. Additionally, wood is biodegradable so that a sunken or disposed of wooden boat is not as hard on the environment as a fibreglass boat.

As you can see, there are many advantages to a wooden sailboat. Consider the maintenance, the environmental friendliness, the longevity and even the dampness factor and it becomes a no-brainer for most. So while technology may help cars and improve computers, there are some things that are better left old fashioned and sailboats just might be one of those things.