Material Options...

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Ake RASMUSSAN, YES , , I SAW THIS BOAT HERE BUILT IN Germany, In have never ever seen the like of it so fair
No stringers no paint, forget Dix there are plenty better

[spiel_mit_feuer]

what would you recommend for sailing through the north sea with? steel for the strength? or the grp sandwiched foam for insulation? and which designers would you recommend i search through?

Originally Posted by spiel_mit_feuer

what would you recommend for sailing through the north sea with? steel for the strength? or the grp sandwiched foam for insulation? and which designers would you recommend i search through?

Steel has only one advantage, and that is, when its aground in surf on a coral reef
but it is easy to build, to a point, forgiving in that even a poorly welded hull will stay in one piece
To make a great job, fair, tidy elegent pretty is harder
For one offs it is hard to beat
Depends on your level of NATURAL skill, if you learn fast and have talent, with hands, read up and build in aluminium
i will tell you one thing, a builder of timber yachts will tell you another, a builder of yachts made of sticky crap another and so on, in the end you will reach a decision,

[spiel_mit_feuer]

im pretty much going to over look aluminum for its cost, difficulty to weld, difficulty to repair, and going to look towards foam sandwiched grp, or steel for durability, price, and ease of repair, or the light weight and insulation of the fiberglass, im just not sure which one i want to go for.. or which one would be best for colder, northern waters

[spiel_mit_feuer]

to lazeyjack, your second yacht.. the alloy one.. what length is that? and if im not mistaken it looks radius-chined

[FAST FRED]

the grp sandwiched foam for insulation?

With foam sandwich the ability to "over build" and bounce off burgey bits does not come with a huge weight penalty.

The built in fire proof insulation is loads better than flamable foam sprayed on steel, that needs to be removed for repair or repainting.

Airex , Mat and roving and good vynleester resin is a proven construction material.

Home building in complex curved shapes , no problem.

FF

[Petros]

You should also consider "Durakore" for fiberglass construction (do a web search for it). It is a balsa wood core/hardwood veneer skins building material that comes in several thicknesses in either sheets (for stitch and glue type construction) or bead-and-cove strips for strip planking applications. It produces one of the lightest and strongest fiberglass structures at lower cost than other methods. It appears easy to work too. much more durable than fiberglass over foam sandwich.

Weather you build wood, fiberglass, steel or aluminum you should choose a material you like working with, you will live with it for a long time and if you do not like the construction method you will be hard pressed to ever finish it. Each of these building materials have advantages and disadvantages, and there are no large performance advantages to any of the construction methods if the design is optimized for the building material. There is some cost differences, though in terms of overall construction costs these too are a relative small percentage difference.

You will likely learn the skills you need as you go, so the learning curve is really not as big an issue as which material you like to work with.

You might also consider steel construction using a hard chine designed hull. It saves a lot of building time, and with a good design it does not affect performance that much (hardly noticeable in practical terms). The only drawback is that the underwater lines are not as attractive, but you will never see those lines them when you are using it. But you will appreciate every day that you got into the water that much faster than the extra weeks, months or even years it takes to make a pretty smooth rounded bilge hull would have taken. There are a lot of excellent hard chine designs available.

I personally like wood, it is pleasant to work, relatively inexpensive, non-toxic and worked with simple hand held tools, it is also pleasant to look at in the finished product. Though it does have a lot more maintenance than other materials. And I think that an all wood hull is probably a poor choice for a boat that will stay in the water year around, better suited to a day sailor or trailerable boat that will stay sheltered out of the water when it is not being used.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Petros

And I think that an all wood hull is probably a poor choice for a boat that will stay in the water year around, better suited to a day sailor or trailerable boat that will stay sheltered out of the water when it is not being used.

More or less second your opinions except this last one.
Boat staying in water won't get (normally) abused like trailerable boats and have their protective coating relatively untouched over long periods..
Wood is a poor choice for sloppy people..

[FAST FRED]

"Durakore" for fiberglass construction.It appears easy to work too.

much more durable than fiberglass over foam sandwich.

ONLY if there are no penetrations in the hull.

Any penetration needs to be very carefully dug back and re created with epoxy goop.

A tiny leak WILL SOFTEN THE BALSA , AND IT WILL ROT.

A good foam core needs protection (usually epoxy too,) but mostly to keep the core from collapsing with a bolt or thru hull.

FF