Cored hull opinion

Ok I know the cored hulls topic has been beat to death but I cannot find the answer I'm looking for. I've looked all over the internet but can't seem to find an answer other than nobody likes cores because the rot.

I understand why nobody likes wood core cuz they rot and cause all kinds of trouble, but do they have to? Can they not last as long as non-cored boats?

I'm thinking about building a 21' powerboat because I can't find one that suits me. I'm wondering if I could "frame" out the hull out of plywood and seal it with products like the wood deck sealers? Then 2-3 layers of fiberglass and epoxy on both inside and outside and be as strong and durable as 100% fiberglass? And any thru hull fittings would be cut a hair larger than needed and fiberglassed then the fitting and silicone. Would those precautions allow the boat to last as long without the wood rot or any other problems?

 

Why can't you find a boat that suits your purpose ? Second-hand boats seem to be as cheap as chips in your country, and there must be a million for sale to trawl through.

 

I basically want 2 boats in one... I do a lot of bass fishing.. So I need rod and tackle storage and I also take friends out tubing and wakeboarding so I need the engine power and seating of a family or ski boat. I would just buy 2 boats and be done with it but the problem is going on vacation and doing both activities...

 

A lot easier to choose a boat with the power you need, and make some changes to the internal "furniture", than design and build from scratch. And you may finish up with a boat that does not perform as you wish. Unless you want a professional bass fishing tournament boat, and a wakeboard championship boat, all in one, there must be suitable boats adaptable to fulfill both roles adequately, for recreational use, in turn.

 

Wooden boats don't rot when they are well maintained. They can last as much as a fiberglass boat. They get a bad name because people buy poorly maintained boats with a lot of rot and keep on putting bad patches on them. A wooden core boat, will last indefinitely, at least more than you will, if there is no water intrusion.

 

If you don't want the boat to rot, use plastic or synthetic cores. Cored laminates are known to be very stiff and light. The problem is, an efficient design requires a thin, high modulus skins which is easy to puncture. Making the skins thick and reducing core thickness defeats the gain in cored laminate. It only makes it heavier and a single skin composite laminate might be a better alternative.

Thus, a glass encapsulated wood is slightly heavier than all wood because wood by itself is structural. The glass sheating increases slightly the strength but the penalty is weight gain. There is some gain in life expectancy of sheated wood but if not treated well as others have mentioned, wood rot ploriferates.

 

Welcome to the forum, fellow Chevy lover.

Given your understanding of things (my assumption) you're not going to self design a 21' powerboat, so you'll need plans. In this general size range, there are literally hundreds to choose from, so keep looking.

As noted above, most any boat can have it "furniture" adjusted to suit your needs, which sounds like you need a cross between a deck boat and a flats boat. This isn't a problem, as you just build a flat boat with lots of seating, maybe a fold down casting deck up forward that can double as a foot well when you have a crowd aboard.

Establish what you really need in the hull type and work from there. I'd recommend the Phantom 18 from Bateau.com. It's a flats boat with it's beam carried forward enough to allow lots of seating. It can handle a fair bit of HP in an outboard and though a little shorter than what you want, should give you an idea of what's available.