Posted by duane on April 24, 2003 at 17:23:04:
hi, thanks for any advice, I know all things have their pros and cons, and every one's uses will be ultimately different, but going to order plans for the yankee star. I am 35 years old, hopefully this boat will be my home, as well as my point-a, point-b machine from now on... anyone that has used both building methods???........nothing last forever, but this is obviously going to be a major unteraking, with time, expense, etc.......hate to reach a point where hindsight, being 20/20 would have been nice. I want a strong as hull possible of course, as I do plan on blue water cruising with this, like the strength of wood, with todays epoxy systems, if you get these boats covered with epoxy good, are you home free from the rot/moisture damage problems, etc??, with normal maintenance of course??? WITH THE C FLEX ROUTE, there is less wood obviously to worry about, but what about the strength ???.......dont want to worry about hitting something floating, reef etc, and it not be able to withstand the impact as possibly better than wood etc ???...I am not worried about weight, speed loss etc...just want my home to last, reguardless of a knot or 2, etc. I know I might be wanting my cake and ice cream both here, but how about some insight from someone who has been there, done that, with both. Also, I am currently living in tennessee, going to try to find accomodations to build inside, but if i wind up building outside, trying to keep project tarped to stay dry, etc.......and when winter comes, with the cold temps, etc. Is this going to present much of a moisture problem, if i try to keep things dry as possible, especially with ply construction, will the ply be capable of drawing moisture, etc more so than desirable ???....any thoughts will be greatly appreciated, going to order plans in two weeks or so, so i would appreciate any help here
thanks for your time, good luck to everyone in their current projects, duane