soft floors ad naseum

[pungolee]

Man,I remember when everyone wanted to get away from wood,fiberglass!Never rots.And yet every boat I encounter over ten years old has a soft floor.There are countless letters on this forum complaining about the same thing.The proper replacement and repair of this problem is one major job,unless you do it everyday for a living.Still,manufacturers like Parker and others are still putting wood in for stringers and encapsulating with polyester resins,instead of epoxy.Why dont they get the wood out,once and for all?I would rather deal with a wooden boat than cutting all of that glass with a jigsaw.

 

[Solittle]

Re: soft floors ad naseum

"Why dont they get the wood out,once and for all?" - - Cost & profit - - If you make your living selling boats would you like to sell boats that never need to get replaced?

 

[Lou C]

Re: soft floors ad naseum

There are manufacturers that have no wood (Key West comes to mind), but I don't think that these construction techniques have been around along enough to know if they will actually last longer, or develop different problems.

 

[salty87]

Re: soft floors ad naseum

i've always read that wood gives a softer, sturdier ride and makes for a heavier boat which also improves the ride.

 

[JB]

Re: soft floors ad naseum

Except for backing for mounting screws, transom cores and brightwork, Boston Whaler never used wood. I guess that is why a 30 year old Sakonnet or Montauk is now worth more than when it was new.

 

[BillP]

Re: soft floors ad naseum

4-5 yrs ago I was at the Pursuit boat factory and asked why they used regular ply instead of composites. The guy giving me the tour said economics...plywood is easier to work with than composites and cheaper to buy. I was thinking... Ok dude, your high end 24'CC costs $20k more than most production boat hulls so I expect to see "no rot" materials here. <br /><br />But after pricing composite panels I can understand why some boat mfgs don't use the stuff. I priced structural composite for a 17' ob project...approx $400 a sheet. It can be had cheaper but you may have to make up the strength with extra structure and laminates. My project used 5 sheets for all the wood parts. Using Greenwood pressure treated marine ply for this project costs about what one panel of composite does and has less glasswork.<br /><br />Anyway, now I'm seeing more production boats using Greenwood pressure treated wood in their structures. It's been around 10+yrs and those boats aren't being seen with soft floors, stringers or transoms anywhere.

 

[seabuddy]

Re: soft floors ad naseum

This pricing issue is interesting.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Re: soft floors ad naseum

Agree completely with JB.<br /><br />Boston Whaler. No wood - not even any stringers at all - and the older ones are just as sound as when they were made. What you pay in purchase you save in expensive maintenance.<br /><br />As they say - the quality remains long after the price is forgotten.