1973 grand banks 48

im not new to boating just new to the woodie.ive been tossing the idea of selling it around.kinda hoping someone here thats knowledgeable will be in the key west area.i am currently living on the boat at a marina downtown key west.ive had it for about 6 months.my problem is the time required to maintain the wood.or even get it back to a maintainable state
the teak is in great shape,im just not sure what to do with it.anyway b4 i babble on,my point is maybe there is someone who would appreciate this boat i
may be better off with a fiberglass hull.

im not new to boating just new to the woodie.ive been tossing the idea of selling it around.

Wooden boats in Fl are almost valueless.

Take it to the Great Lakes area , The Canadians LOVE Classic wood.

And have a long enough winter to be able to actually do the maint required.

Lots of woodies up here in the PNW- the colder water helps preserve the wood.

Wood is a labor of love and and very large bank account.....

maybe ill glass it over and paint all the teak

boatrentals said:

maybe ill glass it over and paint all the teak

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Bad idea- unless you take her out of the water, let her completely dry, then glass her over....and it's still a bad idea.


Generally speaking, what you propose sounds feasible. but is the kiss of death with regards to getting the boat insured. The glass skin acts like a bathtub, and keeps all that moisture in- letting the wood rot.

boatrentals said:

maybe ill glass it over and paint all the teak

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bad move. the wood has to breath or it rots. period.

well you could strip the boat coat everything inside and out with epoxy and as long as there is not even a pin hole she will live. But thats assuming he goes into an oven for a few days on low heat to dry out all the moisture in her

You could cold mold skin her. Its been done successfully. Costly.

This "wood breathing" bit is a myth. Wood does not have to breathe. But it does have to be dry in order to avoid rot problems. The potential problem with fiberglassing over a wood hull or superstructure is that if moisture can get through the fiberglass--- and as soon as you drill a hole in it to mount a piece of hardware or a through-hull the potential is there--- the wood gets wet and can't dry out, or can't dry out fast enough, and rot can get a toehold.

A fiberglass skin can also develop minute cracks over time and this is another way moisture can get into the wood.

Marin said:

This "wood breathing" bit is a myth. Wood does not have to breathe. But it does have to be dry in order to avoid rot problems. The potential problem with fiberglassing over a wood hull or superstructure is that if moisture can get through the fiberglass--- and as soon as you drill a hole in it to mount a piece of hardware or a through-hull the potential is there--- the wood gets wet and can't dry out, or can't dry out fast enough, and rot can get a toehold.

A fiberglass skin can also develop minute cracks over time and this is another way moisture can get into the wood.

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the drying and wetting process is refered to as "breathing". Wetting can be from the moisture in the air just as well as from water

Right, but a lot of people think that sealing wood completely is bad because then it can't "breathe." This is not true. Encasing a piece of wood in epoxy or a non-penetrable finish is not detrimental to the wood. It doesn't have to be exposed to the air to "breathe" in order to remain viable. It just has to be kept not-wet.

Marin said:

Right, but a lot of people think that sealing wood completely is bad because then it can't "breathe." This is not true. Encasing a piece of wood in epoxy or a non-penetrable finish is not detrimental to the wood. It doesn't have to be exposed to the air to "breathe" in order to remain viable. It just has to be kept not-wet.

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almost all fiberglass boats incorporate balsa core or other wood components in there constrution. right? And the wood creates no problem untill it gets wet either from poor construction or drilling without proper bedding

bfloyd4445 said:

almost all fiberglass boats incorporate balsa core or other wood components in there constrution. right? And the wood creates no problem untill it gets wet either from poor construction or drilling without proper bedding

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Some boats have solid glass hulls but the decks and topsides often incorporate wood cores. And the wood core does not create a problem unless it gets wet. But that's not the same thing as thinking wood has to "breathe" in order to remain viable. Wood does not have to be exposed to air in order to "survive." It doesn't have to breathe in that sense. People talk about coatings that allow wood to breathe as though it's important that air be able to get to the wood. As long as a piece of wood remains dry it has no need for contact with air. You can seal it inside a solid block of acrylic and it will be just fine. Probably forever.

Woodenboat had an interesting article last month about glassing over wooden hulls (sacrilege!) using the Vaitses method.

started varnishing the hand rails yesterday.looks great.i told the wife if she didnt want to help then we would need to get rid of the boat. lol her first response was get rid of it then.an hour later we were sanding.

however i am looking at all of the advice here about glassing the hull,has anyone here actually done it?

boatrentals said:

however i am looking at all of the advice here about glassing the hull,has anyone here actually done it?

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We did on a small runabout that my father had built. We ended up having some rot where moisture became trapped between the glass and the wood.


I would post your question on the Grand Banks Forum. If anyone has done it, particularly to a GB, you should be able to find out there.

boatrentals said:

however i am looking at all of the advice here about glassing the hull,has anyone here actually done it?

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All i have heard of is problems from using the wrong chemicals on wood boats. A guy on this site that works for gb says nothing should be used thats not intended for wood and the only cauking for the bottom should be pure cotton or u will be sorry. wish i could think of his name? perhaps someone else will remember and give you his name