What would you do..........

[ILoveBoats]

..........if Boats Were Dead??????????????

[boatiechap]

Wooden boats already are. They're dead wood.

Steel, iron, rusty and tin foil boats aren't.

[Gator Boats]

Being a Ninja, Boatiechap should know that wood-even wood disconnected from it's roots-is Not Dead. Wood breathes, creaks, talks, expands and contracts, it reacts to it's surroundings and a builder must understand all of these characteristics in order to build a quality wooden boat.
Metal on the other hand, well you just weld that together, and depending on the shape, you either end up with a boat or a beer can.

Henry C.
Gator Boat Co.
www.gatorboats.com

[Thunderhead19]

Would there be boats if there weren't any oceans or any water deeper than 12 inches?

[Arrowmarine]

Wood or metal doesnt matter, I always end up with a beer can :-)
Just a note: Metal also breathes creaks talks expands contracts and reacts with its surroundings. It also deflects, work hardens, melts, burns, freezes and crystalizes. Its characteristics change dramaticaly between morning and afternoon and two pieces of the same material can be freakishly different in the way they react to welding/forming etc. The strbd gunwale may stay perfectly straight while the port side may pull in 2" or more during the exact same welding sequence. Any given weld pass can cause the metal to pull in or push out depending on the stresses imposed on the other parts of the boat. There are hundreds of passes layed down in a typical 20' aluminum boat. All must be high quality. No matter what position you are in, no matter if it is 105 degrees out and you are welding in leather clothes inside a metal box over your head with berrys and slag landing inside of your ears and running down your back in temperatures inside the hull approaching 130 degrees. you still must lay down high quality beads.
A builder must understand these characteristics In order to build a straight, symetrical craft.
Is that what you mean by "you just weld that together"?
Either wood or metal, it takes a craftsman to build a quality craft.

[Corpus Skipper]

No matter what position you are in, no matter if it is 105 degrees out and you are welding in leather clothes inside a metal box over your head with berrys and slag landing inside of your ears and running down your back in temperatures inside the hull approaching 130 degrees. you still must lay down high quality beads.

Sounds like a blast! What's worse, that or wearing a Tyvek suit to avoid the itchies when it's 105 outside and 115 inside that 'glass boat breathing through a respirator with sweat sloshing around inside of it, laminating overhead at a marathon pace before that blankety blank resin kicks off.... Why do we do this again???

[SailDesign]

Originally Posted by Corpus Skipper

Why do we do this again???

Some of us are sensible enough to let others do it for us...

Steve

[Corpus Skipper]

Some of us are sensible enough to let others do it for us...

Soon as I get going well enough to hire some hands.... Or win the lotto!

[goran]

Originally Posted by ILoveBoats

..........if Boats Were Dead??????????????

So would i be then

[Arrowmarine]

My apologies to corpus skipper for not including 'glass men.
Sounds like you know exactly what I'm talkijng about. My brother is a painter, and I've seen him come out of a hot spray booth wearing one of those tyvek suits, take off his rubber glove and pour out about a cup of sweat. We all have our demons it seems.
Peace, Joey

[Gator Boats]

Well put arrow...but what I actually meant is that wood is STILL alive, while metal never was.
Nevertheless, I love a good weld.

[dvgale]

[What would you do ... if Boats Were Dead??????????????[/quote]

Several years ago I came across the term “dead boat” in an article in Offshore magazine describing the art, hobby and prospects of locating, surveying and restoring for use old, run-down, often forgotten boats. Many handy individuals (not a few of them participants on this site, I’m sure!) build themselves some lovely classics and enjoy boating this way, at the cost of “sweat equity” and the equivalent cash outlay of a much lesser new boat. On the other hand, some boats have just been let go to rot far too long to be worth bothering to fix up without rebuilding the entire boat. This is the sad case of what is known as a “dead boat”.

However, such a boat might yet find a “savior”, in the form of a builder or designer willing to take her measurements with tape and plumb bobs, tabulate her offsets, regenerate her lines and plans, and rebuild her anew.

I believe WoodenBoat magazine has a “Save this Boat” feature each month focusing on an old classic whose longevity is jeopardized and appealing for a caring buyer. Most of these would require huge sums of cash and work and, therefore, a well-heeled buyer. For the rest of us, joining and supporting the nautical museum/heritage society of our choice can also save many of our beloved old craft.