putting wood over a fibreglass hull

[ewan]

hi, i am looking at an old soling which is for sale

i have an idea of covering the deck with thin wooden strips,adding bits of wooden trim and fake ribs on the inside. black the hull etc

would i have to reinforce the deck so it couldn't flex causing the wood strips to pop off?? or can wooden decks flex?

does anyone know of any projects like this, making a modern boat look like wooden one?.. any images, sites or articles on the web..

regards ewan

[Bruce Hooke]

Plenty of fiberglass boats have teak veneer decks. There was a thread on this recently with details about how to do it.

I see little point in going further than that. It would be almost impossible to conceal from anyone knowledge the fact that it is a fiberglass boat, and those who are not knowledgable will probably not really notice. If you want to do anything, focus on adding some nice looking wood details simply to dress things up a bit. But, remember that any wood the is exposed to the weather will have to be maintained.

[uncas]

I have never heard of this being done. But that does not mean it hasn't Bruce, you are right about the teak veneer on fiberglass decks. I also have seen a lot of boats with that design having to be ripped apart because of moisture getting between the two layers and staying there.
I would supect that the problem would also be true for putting wood over fiberglass on the hull. You still have that space between the two materials.
Also, the shrinking and swelling of the wood during a normal year may cause interesting stress point on the fiberglass. Obviously this can be min. by the wood used. Some woods obviously shrink and swell more than others.

I am not speaking from experience. Jusy some thoughts to pass along. Perhaps someone else can answer them...confirm they are valid points or not.

Also attachment...What are ya going to screw the planks into. It would have to be something inside of the fiberglass and I'm not sure there would be enough support unless you created something under the fiberglass skin to take the screws or whatever you use.

[paladin]

sheathing a fiberglass boat with wood is the only sure way to protect it from polyestermites.

[uncas]

Now Chuck, those pesky critters have to eat too.

[David123]

For the interior, you can get a teak and holly sole plywood that looks pretty nice. I believe that the F/G boats that have teak decks have a plywood underlay which is attached to beams and not an actual fiberglass deck. Might be wrong on this...but I've Read Roberts on building one off F/G boats and he details a F/G hull with Ply decks and you can either glass the decks or do the traditional teak over the ply.

Your boat may indeed have a ply core in the deck structure.

[outofthenorm]

The whole point of a Soling is to go fast. The guys who are serious about this level of racing spend every waking minute thinking of ways to remove ounces of weight. Teak overlays and false ribs and other trimmings are IMHO just plain wrong on this sort of boat. Keep it pure.

- Norm

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

That stirs a memory..
Somewhere about 10 or 12 years back - someone did that in the UK - there was an article in a mag but I can't remember which one.

Guy converted a Soling or an etchells 22 for cuising use in the lake district......

Prod an ancient brit.

[Thorne]

If the boat is old enough, no reason that I can see not to buy it and make it look like you pleases-- not like glass Solings are super rare.

There have been some other threads on this exact topic, so it can be done. You'll need to seal the teak veneer/ply very well, and may have to remove it after a few seasons if it rots or warps -- I'll recommend CPES for the sealing part, and a removable adhesive for the bonding to fiberglass deck part.

I wouldn't try to fake the whole wood boat look, but you can dress up the boat with wood decks and trim and have fun. It will still be a glass boat, so as the man said above, if you want wood, buy or build a wooden boat.

[aaronak]

What if he treated it as a cold mold project, strips of LIGHT wood veneer epoxied onto the hull in a herringbone fashion. Possibly use those "fake" ribs, along with "fake" deck beams to reinforce any soft spots on deck, unless the deck is stiff enough, not a lot of them just enough. Run that decking from bow to stern, throw in some of those "bits" of woodwork and he could turn out a very interesting boat

[johnw]

There was an article in Classic Boat a few years ago about a guy who converted an Etchells to gaff and gave it an Edwardian eliptical stern and was tearing up the gaff rig racing circuit. That might be a better model for what you're doing than making a fake wooden boat.

[Woxbox]

I knew a guy about 25 years ago who worked at the Hinckley yard in Maine. This was after they switched to fiberglass hulls. His job was simple -- make the interior look like it was a 100% wooden boat. They had pretty much the same philosophy about the decks on those boats, too.
Of course it can be done. And it can look classy, too.