Terminology in Wood Boat Building for Amateur Builders

by

Greg St.Clair

Most people build wood boats because they are cheap to make. Wood is an easily available material that can be used to make cheap boats that would be very buoyant and durable. As a matter of fact, wooden boats are normally used for sailing across rivers as well as for going to the sea.

When building a wooden boat, the most important structure is the hull. The hull is in fact the most important part of a boat, whether it be a wooden, or a steel boat. The hull can be shaped to form a smooth curve that will have no corners or alternatively the hull can be chinned to have corners. A smooth curve hull is rounded and does not have corners. On the other hand, a chinned hull is a flat bottomed hull made with two distinct planks that meet at a sharp angle. This sharp angle in boat terminology is called a chine. Plywood is commonly used to make the chinned hulls. Plywood boat building is a popular method nowadays for building boats. Ply on frame method of boat construction is the method where hulls are made to have one or more chines. Most amateur boat builders construct boats using the ply on frame method. The stitch and glue method is also commonly used nowadays by amateurs to build wood boats. In this method, pre-shaped pieces of plywood are normally used. These pieces will be reinforced onto each other without using a frame. What will actually be used is fiberglass. The waterproof quality of plywood’s is what makes them the choice wood for building boats by many amateurs. Actually, plywood is often called, “WBP”. WBP stands for: water and also boiled proof. For those who like building super yachts, the good news is that wood can be easily be used in such construction. Wood pieces called veneers are what are normally used to build yachts. Veneers in simple language are layers of thin pieces of wood. These layers will usually form a very strong boat structure when combined together. The process of building a wooden boat by using veneers is called cold molding. The first step is cold molding involves making a base layer. Strip planks are used to form the base layer. After the base layer, multiple veneers are then used to build the overall structure of the boat. Overall, it is appropriate to opt to build wood boats when it is the first time to be engaged in the boat building business. Wooden boats offer less risk to amateur boat builders because they represent a fairly lower amount of financial sacrifice.

Greg St. Clair is an avid boat lover and boat building enthusiast. For more great information on

how to build wood boats

, visit

boatplanscentral.com

.

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Terminology in Wood Boat Building for Amateur Builders