Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Meisinger
Proceed with extreme caution! The pitfalls are many and expensive.
pete
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Pitfalls on FG boats are many and expensive too … less so but overall they are probably much the same. Of the top if a fire was to start in my boat I’d much rather it be wood. Doing structural repairs most of us would do better working w wood. But there’s hard to do FG work and wood work too. Leaks are worse on a wood boat but generally not much trouble to fix … just time consuming.
But when it comes to the pleasures of owning the boat wood has a huge advantage starting w very noticeable lack of noise. When you go for many many hours underway w a large diesel engine that feature could easily win a skipper over. Cruising the wood boat typically makes noises of a softer less harsh nature. With a FG boat you’d probably be inclined to ask if the boat had much sound insulation. Speaking of noise you could probably make a FG boat about equal to a wood boat but sound reducing insulation is not cheap and you’d need a lot of it.
But I think everyone knows painting and varnishing is a big job and is not something one can ignore as mildew and wood rot will take over. I’ve known families to make quick work of it tho.
When thinking about wood boats I can say (at my age) if I was to have a new boat built and had the money it would be wood. I could easily make it last 40 yrs and I won’t last even half that long.