"New" Boat

I don't repair blisters until they reach a pretty decent size. Most of the time they never grow into that and usually are a non-issue......

Oiling teak? LOL. That's a cinch. Wait till you try scraping, sanding and painting an entire wood boat, and don't forget to drop plenty of sawdust into the launch slip to caulk it until the wood swells on relaunch.

Planet Earth, lived in Liquordale, am currently captain on and doing a major refit on a yacht here in Brisbane to eradicate a mold issue. Then it's off to Indonesia to take the owner surfing. Been in this business for over 25 years starting with a Catalina 27 I lived on in SoCal while working as a BN and doing charters with 100 year old wood schooners. Worked in the oilfields and tugs with steel and aluminium boats. I worked my way up and now (actually for the last 13 years) hold a 3000ton Ocean Masters ticket with a 1600 ton sail endorsement. If you recall hurricane Frances in '04 and the white yacht that broke loose in Palm Beach that was all over the news for 2 days, that was me. Was involved in a 5 year major research project into blistering in the late 80s. Peeling, barrier coats... none of it is permanent and the issue is uncured styrenes within the Polyester laminate matrix which in a lighly built boat is a structural concern and can and does lead to delamination. All repairing blisters does is fills whats there, next year you will have more. Believe what you want. The maintenance on a wood boat is more, but it is cheaper per unit of maint and easier to do yourself.

My current ride is steel hull with an aluminium superstructure:



There isn't a boat building material I haven't dealt with. If you think plastic boats aren't toxic, I suggest you get a VOC meter and put it in your cabin and see what it reads. German standards are 500 ppb, US standards are 1000 ppb.

i dont' think anyone asked for your resume...

oh I remember that boat during Frances, impressive piece of driving but what where you thinking staying there in the first place? WPB was probably the last place you wanted to be, i remembering wondering why so many boats didnt' move south before the storm, the forecast was pretty clear especially with the long fetch on Lake Worth.

back to the topic... indeed, grounding and filling blisters is mostly a nice cash register tool for yards. Personally, in 30 years of fiberglass boat ownership and operation, i have never had to spend anything on hull bottom beyond bottom paint. Same cant' be said of wood... most owners either can't replank, refasten or repair frames themselves or dont' have time to do it anyway.

I got the call 2 days before the storm hit, I was going to go to Key West with it but when I got on it I found a boat that had not been started in 9 months and only had a couple hundred gallons of fuel in the day tank, and it was black. Bridges were locked down, couldn't find a fuel truck with fuel in it, and I had to get the boat off the dock it was on. Only choice I had was to anchor in Lake Worth and ride it out.

Maybe you haven't, but others certainly have. Glass by no means is a trouble free material, especially when using polyester. Many have spent tens of thousands++ to remediate delamination issues. Check out Destiny Yachts some time...

Having grown up on a wood Huckins, I can't say that the continual ongoing maintenance was cheaper or same price as the plastic or metal boats around us. At 64' we cost the same to maintain as an 84' Broward owned by family friends. Another friend's 65' Hatteras was downright cheap to maintain in comparison, though it was a fuel hog and cost significantly more to run.

"Many have spent tens of thousands++ to remediate delamination issues."

sure but it always come down to improper coring and/or builders using coring as a cost saving tool. A properly laid up solid glass, uncored, hull will not delaminate.

Burn that memory into your mind. I've always said 'if you want to keep me from buying a boat put one little piece of wood on it'. And I love wood and working with it.

Yep, day by day, wood is more, but then comes the bill for re plating and changing out rotted frames, you get to play leap frog with $$, and that's about every 20 years on a metal boat. I used to run 100+ year old schooners that still had their original planking and most of their original copper rivets. Glass has about a 50 year life span. The most durable, minimum maintenance material for a hull is probably still Ferro Cement if it's built correctly and not run hard aground. Problem is very very few of them are built correctly so the rebar rusts and breaks the concrete. My point was not to limit the material choices in selecting a boat because there really isn't that much of a difference, especially if it's mostly going to serve as a liveaboard and only see fair weather cruising. At that point comfort plays a larger roll, and for comfort, you can't beat a wood boat. It has the best insulating values, both temp and sound, and it doesn't off gas toxic hydrocarbons as do all the plastics. When you are looking for the greatest value for your $$$ in a boat, you have to consider wood.

Paints and plastics release chemical componants, some of which are not so good for your health, into the air. One thing to consider when it comes time to scrape, sand and paint an old wood or metal boat is that you may be dealing with lead based paints.
Swapping out a piece of ply is a little different than refastening the hull of a 40 footer. If someone enjoys the bill for hull waxing wait til you see the bill for scraping, sanding an painting the hull; maybe replacing a plank or two. Lots of labor, and most yards up here won't let you scrape your own paint even if you had the time.

IMO fiberglass is the cheapest to maintain for the size you're looking for. I've never seen a fiberglass boat "fall apart" if it was built properly.

Lower helms were popular back in the day because boat's didn't have eisinglass and strataglass enclosures for the flybridge. So in rain or cold weather it was nice to run the vessel from downstairs. I like running a vessel from downstairs on long deliveries, if there is good visability. It's easier on the body. However it does take up room that could be used for living space.

What do you plan on doing during winter time with the boat? I don't think it's feasible to keep it in the water during winter up there.

Actually, add that price to the price for renting the place you'll be living in for winter. You could possibly stay on the boat if it's kept in water (Check other liveaboard threads for discussions on the pros & cons), but not when it's on land. For the 50' I've been managing the winter's cost (including a few projects, which there always are) in the area of $15,000- $18,000 by the time Spring launch came.