5 reasons why you should build your boat out of wood

Since the mid 1900s, most pleasure boats have been built of plastic. Or, to put it more precisely, glass reinforced polyester, also known as fiberglass.

The advantages of fiberglass boats are obvious: First of all, they don’t rot. They can endure an immense amount of neglect - such as being left out in rain and sun for years - and still be OK.

Also, the construction process is simple, cheap, and lends itself very well to mass production. Once you’ve built the “plug”, it’s easy to create a lot of identical hulls.

Add to that the fact that building a fiberglass hull is quite a bit faster than making it of wood, aluminium or steel. And it doesn’t require skilled labor in the same way that most other construction methods do.

All this is great, right? We can build a lot of boats cheap, and we don’t need to spend time caring for them. Easy!

Well, yes. And no.

It’s true that it takes more time to build a boat out of wood. And it’s true that a wooden boat that’s left outside in the rain will, at some point, rot.

But I would argue that wooden boats have advantages that might outweigh these two drawbacks. And that the drawbacks are perhaps not drawbacks after all …

OK, here we go:

1: Wood is a technically superior material

Yes, you read that right.

For a boat to perform well, you want it to be light, stiff and hydrodynamic. Wood is an ideal material to help achieve that.

The stiffness-to-weight ratio of wood is much better than fiberglass, aluminium or steel. It’s not quite on the level of carbon fiber, but it’s surprisingly close.

Sounds unlikely? Try bending a thin strip of metal. Then try and bend a piece of wood of the same width, length and weight. You’ll be able to easily bend and permanently deform the metal. The wood will be much stiffer and (unless you bend it beyond its breaking point - modulus of rupture) it will spring back into its original shape.

Try and do the same thing with a piece of GRP. It will be considerably less stiff.

And if you drop either metal or GRP into a bucket of water it will sink, whereas the wood will float.

Why is wood so light and stiff?

The evolutionary reason is probably that it’s necessary for the tree in order to keep standing in a storm. The wood needs to be able to withstand enormous amounts of stress without breaking or deforming.

The technical reason is that wood essentially is a composite - not too unlike carbon fiber composites. Each cellulose fiber is extremely stretch resistant, just like carbon fibers are. And when a lot of these fibers are bundled together with a strong “glue” (lignin), it creates an exceptionally stiff and strong beam structure.

But there’s another big advantage to wood: It naturally wants to bend to a fair curve. This is extremely helpful when you’re building a wooden boat, because it makes it much easier to create a boat that glides effortlessly through the water.

So, what is a fair curve? It’s a smooth, even curve without abrupt kinks or bends. When you bend a strip of wood, it will naturally want to bend fairly. It’s actually more or less impossible to give it an unfair bend, unless you cut it or break it.

The great thing about this is that water flows easily past a fair curve. So a boat built of “sprung”, (i.e. bent) planks will naturally tend to be very hydrodynamic.

2: Wood is great for one-off amateur builds

This is also one of the reasons that wood works great for one-off builds. You can build your own boat, because it doesn't require expensive equipment or an expensive plug, like metal or fiberglass boatbuilding does.

Just a set of two-dimensional wooden molds on a strongback is enough to describe the hull shape. Because once a plank is wrapped around the molds, the wood will automatically “calculate” the fairest route between the points that the molds define.

It’s not magic, but it almost feels like it.

3: Wood is easy and fun to work with

The tools you need to shape wood are simple and accessible. Hand saws and hand planes get you a very long way when you’re shaping wood. Combined with a bandsaw and a thickness planer, you have a very efficient setup.

And wood is a wonderful material to work with. Working wood is - generally - not dangerous or toxic. The sound of a sharp hand plane cutting wood is wonderful. Quite often, it even smells good.

Wood is a warm, living material.

4: Wood is beautiful

This, I think, shouldn’t be neglected. A boat built of wood is for me just something special. And I think a lot of people would agree.

Wood, under varnish, oil, or even paint, has a special living character to it, which helps me connect to it in on an emotional level.

Is this important? I think it is. I think it’s important to create beautiful things. And it’s important to try and be around beautiful things in life.

5: Wood helps build sustainable boats (and people)

Because wooden boats provide a special, emotional connection, they are easy to care for. And they’re more difficult to neglect. A bit like children, or kittens.

This might be one of the reasons that many wooden boats last for many decades: Their owners truly care for them.

Building a wooden boat is a big job. But what you create is something great. Something that you will want to take care of and pass on to future generations. A handmade wooden boat the direct opposite of the unsustainable “buy and then throw away” culture that has been prevalent since the advent of mass production.

It’s also the direct opposite of the non-tangible work that a lot of people do these days. Sitting at a computer screen for hours on end, perhaps broken off by attending meetings.

Jobs where you’re probably creating something. But it’s not always very clear what it is.

In itself, wood is a renewable material, too. Trees - magically, it seems - just grow out of the soil.

Earth, of course, cannot produce unlimited amounts of wood. So we need to use the wood we have available with great thought.

I believe we should use it to build long-lasting, beautiful products that provide joy, both during their construction and afterwards.

If we spend our time using our hands, bodies and minds to create things of beauty, I believe we humans will be healthier. And the planet, surely, too.

- Mikkel Pagh

P.S. If you're interested in building a wooden boat yourself, you can get started right now by taking my free boatbuilding mini course.