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Cherp · 14-01-2011, 18:17

Also, I agree with David M. Were I going into the Antarctic, I would probably go for a steel hull.

But for my normal sailing, if I had the choice - which I don't - I would go for a well contructed triple diagonal. In the meantime, I am perfectly happy with my GRP 40 footer.

Mirar · 14-01-2011, 19:32

Hi all, I put over 65,000 offshore miles on a herrshoff 48 that was strip-planked of soft red cedar on oak frames. I owned her for over 30 years and now the new owners are taking her from west coast canada to east coast canada.Candlewin is still in great shape and continues to prove that wood is still good! In retrospect though, I would have liked to have had a skin over the outside planking to take some of the bashings we had over the years.
cheers, Greg

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nonam · 14-01-2011, 20:10

Cherp,I once saw a cold molded diagonal hull constructed from strips of plywood.They got normal 4ft by 8ft sheets of plywood and cut it to the strip size they wanted.No doubt it was marine grade plywood.What do you think of that method compared to using solid wood strips?

dana-tenacity · 14-01-2011, 20:14

Double and triple diagonal was pretty much the standard for boatbuilding in our part of the woods for decades.
Light , strong and easy to repair and maintain (more so than GRP- get a quote on an osmosis peel). Many, many here would prefer it over GRP.
Eventually however the builders couldn't compete with cheaper AWB's from Europe, now NZ built boats fron the 60's, 70's 80's and even into the 90's are like collectors items and are holding their resale value extremely well.
Of course that also coincided with the heyday of NZ designers so some seriously nice boats.

Cherp · 14-01-2011, 23:08

I've heard of people using plywood to build diagonal plank boats but I am not a fan. Solid timber is the go.

PAR · 15-01-2011, 02:50

With the exception of Lindsay Lord strip plank and some composite core methods, a molded hull is the strongest, pound for pound of the wooden methods. WoodenBoat magazine a couple decades ago, did a survey of professionals only and a molded hull came up the preferred build method for ownership.

On the down side is hull shell repair, which can be daunting and difficult to do correctly, without just buttering up the whole area with thickened goo and calling the painter. Also it's a pain in the butt to build with, as the first layer is so flimsy, you need a substantial mold to lay it up over.

I personally know of several 30 and 40 year old molded hulls that haven't any (hull shell) issues. I've surveyed several in recent years and the method stands up to it's reputation.

**Jim Cate** · 15-01-2011, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by PAR

I personally know of several 30 and 40 year old molded hulls that haven't any (hull shell) issues. I've surveyed several in recent years and the method stands up to it's reputation.

G'Day All,

First, I can verify that Greg's Candlewyn (sp?) was, and probably still is a beautiful and interesting boat. Sailed in company with them in 1986-87 in the south Pacific...

I cant quite meet the 30 to 40 year span reported above, but our Insatiable II, strip planked in Western Red Cedar, epoxy, light glass in and out, is now a bit over twenty years old. She's been rode hard and too often put away wet, done around 100K miles, and still looks pretty darn good to us:

No hull issues, still quite fair, and with new topsides paint last year, even shiny!

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Towlers Bay, NSW, Oz