So how exactly do you define wooden?

sarabande

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whaddya mean ? Plywood doesn't count ? In addition to real marine ply, there are bits of mahogany, oak, ash, pine, and iroko on my plyWOOD boat :)
 

ripvan1

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+1 my first boat, lift keel Bell woodworking co. Seamew with lots of hardwood and as sarabande says real marine ply - still going strong I believe (the boat that is) Plenty of steel classic boats about as well.
 

saltylegs

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My wee "plywood" day sailor would have been in the water a year earlier if I had of followed the plan and bought alloy tube for the spars,
but in my wisdom I thought she would look better with proper pine bowsprit, bumkin, boom, gaff and hollow main and mizzen and I was right IMHO:encouragement:
 

PhillM

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Slight drift, what do you define as a "boat". Do dinghy's count or are we just going to be talking cruisers on here? Come to think about it, do mobs count as classic too? ;)
 

ianc1200

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Traditional Boat Rally at Henley stipulates hull/bulkheads not of ply to enter. The modern slipper launches built by Freebodys tend to have ply bottoms & solid mahogany sides which has lead to some difficulties, I understand the rules but these are beautiful craft of the highest quality, and one of the the aims of the Rally is to encourage wooden boat building.
 

srp

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Presumably plywood doesn't count? Or epoxy sandwiches.

BY that logic, then anything involving more technology than hollowing out a log wouldn't count. Everything after the hollowed-out log stage of boat evolution involves an improvement in technology and different materials for fastening and waterproofing. Coracles used bending techniques and pitch, birch bark canoes used leather, Viking longboats used iron fasteners and tar, the Albacore was a moulded boat cured in an autoclave, etc etc.
Perhaps we should even exclude hollowed out logs as being too advanced, and just stick to ordinary logs.
 

Lakesailor

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Traditional Boat Rally at Henley stipulates hull/bulkheads not of ply to enter. The modern slipper launches built by Freebodys tend to have ply bottoms & solid mahogany sides which has lead to some difficulties, I understand the rules but these are beautiful craft of the highest quality, and one of the the aims of the Rally is to encourage wooden boat building.
What an incredibly snobbish attitude. I wouldn't want to enter, even if I had a an entirely "correct" boat.
 

ianc1200

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"What an incredibly snobbish attitude. I wouldn't want to enter, even if I had a an entirely "correct" boat."

You would think so, but a considerable number of well meaning people spending a considerable amount of their own free time in committee meetings (including myself) trying to balance the various interest groups opinions. It was not not just wood - we accepted riveted iron, and generally came to the conclusion anything which was generally able to be built prior to WW2 was acceptable. Immediately this threw up the plywood MTB's and the WW1 concrete barges/narrowboats. It was a difficult balancing act, added to at the time we had too many boats wanting to enter and not enough space. Added to this was the Steam Boat Association who's interest was the steam engine and not the hull, which could be GRP, led to a falling out with SBA members for several years.

We got round it with a fudge factor, a "special interest class". One of the best boats to enter in this class was an East Coast Smack, self built concrete hull, but otherwise very authentic looking, used to come for several years but we still had complaints. I also remember two larger cruisers - a Rampart 40' and an Otter - both we had complaints that we had let a GRP boat enter, in fact their hulls were so good they looked plastic.

It is difficult to please everybody & as the other threads on this new forum show there are areas of disagreements despite best efforts.
 

dancrane

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I also remember two larger cruisers - a Rampart 40' and an Otter - both had complaints that we had let a GRP boat enter, in fact their hulls were so good they looked plastic.

Pardon me, but I don't understand that. In each case, wasn't it the builder's aim to look as UNLIKE plastic as possible?

I certainly understand the rest of your post. Extremely difficult to tell someone their beloved classic isn't classic enough.
 

ianc1200

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Sorry, expressed myself badly. A wooden carvel hull can be so good/so perfect/smooth some believe it's GRP. I've always taken it as a compliment ("is that a wooden fit out on a Colvic hull?" etc). I doubt it's anything to do with the builders intentions, it's just the endless hours rubbing down/filling to achieve ironically, something that appears to be plastic.

As I bought a Mk 1 Cornish Crabber last year & a Smacks Boat this year, my poor wooden boat is looking a bit shabby now, and doesn't qualify as a wooden boat looking plastic, but I have promised her plenty of love & attention in the next few months.
 
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