new boats

[spartanpele]

I wasn't sure of where to post this...so I thought I'd try this section first.<br /><br />This past weekend the Mrs and I went to a boat blow out sale at our local convention/fairgrounds area. There were 4 main mfgrs there (Larson, Glastron, etc.) and the styles were open bow/bowriders, deck boats, pontoon boats, cuddys and center console large fishing. The prices ranged from 12,500 to around 60K.<br /><br />My questions is this... are most of the boats today made of fiberglass only? I was checking out the hulls and the interior lower compartments and I didn't see any wood involved. Most of the interiors were sparse for carpet and there seemed to be plenty of plastic. Except for the aluminum on the pontoon boats, everything was mostly fiberglass.<br /><br />I was just curious as to whether or not using wood was a thing of the past.

 

[bayman]

Re: new boats

It sounds like you went to a Genmar boat show. Almost all of their boats under 24' are made using what they call VEC technology. You can read more about it on each of their brand web sites.<br /><br />Many people aren't too keen about having wood that requires upkeep. So many manufacturers of smaller boats don't have much, if any visible wood. Some manufacturers now claim to not have any wood in their boats.

 

[cart7]

Re: new boats

While I suppose wood has some particular advantages, most boat builders quit using it and went with composites several years ago at least. Why put something into a boat that when in contact with water can't dry out sufficiently and then rots?