Re: Why does wood rot so fast? Did tall ships rot this quick?
I've seen boats as young as 10 years old with rotten floors and transoms.
I can't help but think wood must be the worst material ever for boats but then I thought of tall ships, schooners and man of wars.
Some of these ships lasted longer than the men that sailed them.
Better wood? Treated wood? Solid wood is better then ply? Maybe they were constantly rebuilt?
I think that there is something unique and perhaps not fully understood about taking wood and then encapsulating it in resin and/or fiberglass. In ways it probably promotes rot as much as it prevents rot.
I just got thru reading a thread on OSO this morning about a guy with a 10 year old boat from a quality manufacturer and the boat had developed stringer and bulkhead rot after about 10 years. There were no voids or exposed edges, it just rotted from within.
Most ships of old were made from hardwood. Even small boats of yesteryear were made from hardwood. Much of the wood spent a lot of time in the water, but it was also exposed to the air, so it could breath. I remember having a wood cat boat when I was young . . . the boat was probably 40 years old and pretty much original structure (mostly oak). Can you imagine the wood in a production fiberglass boat after 40 years?
I am in the early stages of a stringer and bulkhead repair on my boat and I am contemplating what sort of material to use. Conventional wisdom says use wood, but I'm thinking a composite would be better. The current stringers look like they are Douglas fir. If I did use wood, perhaps I should use oak.
It is also often advised to replace with what was there, because you get a predictable strength that is similar to the original design. However, my boat has a stress crack at the top of of the port stringer. So, perhaps the original stringer is not adequate.
Anyway, the more I read about stringers and related repairs, the subject becomes clear as mud.