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PMF
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I'm not an expert on wooden boats, but wood starts to rot quickly when it gets wet and is exposed to air at the same time. It would not be possible to keep wood dry that is only protected against moisture from the outside. You'll always get some water inside the boat, either from waves or from rain - or just because of the high humidity near lakes or the sea.

So to prevent your boat from starting to rot, you would need to make sure it is really dried out after each use. This is impractical, so the wood is fully covered in fiberglass and gelcoat, so it stays dry. A boat built of only wood would likely even be easier to dry - however it needs the attention anand maintenance of a wooden boat, which is considerably higher than anything buildbuilt of or with GRP (and the reason why wood is rarely used for boatbuilding any more).

Note that thismoisture isn't even only an issue with a wooden core. Even boats fully built with fiberglass may show what is called "osmosis", where water (vapor) passes trough the protective outer gelcoat layer and starts a kind of rotting process in the fiberglass and it's surrounding epoxy or polyester resin.

I'm not an expert on wooden boats, but wood starts to rot quickly when it gets wet and is exposed to air at the same time. It would not be possible to keep wood dry that is only protected against moisture from the outside. You'll always get some water inside the boat, either from waves or from rain - or just because of the high humidity near lakes or the sea.

So to prevent your boat from starting to rot, you would need to make sure it is really dried out after each use. This is impractical, so the wood is fully covered in fiberglass and gelcoat, so it stays dry. A boat built of only wood would likely even be easier to dry - however it needs the attention an maintenance of a wooden boat, which is considerably higher than anything build of or with GRP.

Note that this isn't even only an issue with a wooden core. Even boats fully built with fiberglass may show what is called "osmosis", where water (vapor) passes trough the protective outer gelcoat layer and starts a kind of rotting process in the fiberglass and it's surrounding epoxy or polyester resin.

I'm not an expert on wooden boats, but wood starts to rot quickly when it gets wet and is exposed to air at the same time. It would not be possible to keep wood dry that is only protected against moisture from the outside. You'll always get some water inside the boat, either from waves or from rain - or just because of the high humidity near lakes or the sea.

So to prevent your boat from starting to rot, you would need to make sure it is really dried out after each use. This is impractical, so the wood is fully covered in fiberglass and gelcoat, so it stays dry. A boat built of only wood would likely even be easier to dry - however it needs the attention and maintenance of a wooden boat, which is considerably higher than anything built of or with GRP (and the reason why wood is rarely used for boatbuilding any more).

Note that moisture isn't even only an issue with a wooden core. Even boats fully built with fiberglass may show what is called "osmosis", where water (vapor) passes trough the protective outer gelcoat layer and starts a kind of rotting process in the fiberglass and it's surrounding epoxy or polyester resin.

Source Link
PMF
  • 1.5k
  • 4
  • 12

I'm not an expert on wooden boats, but wood starts to rot quickly when it gets wet and is exposed to air at the same time. It would not be possible to keep wood dry that is only protected against moisture from the outside. You'll always get some water inside the boat, either from waves or from rain - or just because of the high humidity near lakes or the sea.

So to prevent your boat from starting to rot, you would need to make sure it is really dried out after each use. This is impractical, so the wood is fully covered in fiberglass and gelcoat, so it stays dry. A boat built of only wood would likely even be easier to dry - however it needs the attention an maintenance of a wooden boat, which is considerably higher than anything build of or with GRP.

Note that this isn't even only an issue with a wooden core. Even boats fully built with fiberglass may show what is called "osmosis", where water (vapor) passes trough the protective outer gelcoat layer and starts a kind of rotting process in the fiberglass and it's surrounding epoxy or polyester resin.