Walls of Wood

Many people ask why I would want to build a boat out of wood when there are so many ‘better’ options available. There are many reasons why I feel wood is a superior medium for boat building and construction in general for that matter. These can be broken into three broad categories.

• The experience

• Sustainability

• Connection

The Experience

I have amassed a collection of antique tools which I’ve used to build Maiwar

I have worked with many different materials when working on boats, including fiberglass, foam, carbon fiber, epoxy, polyester resin, steel, aluminum etc. and I can undoubtedly say that wood is the most enjoyable to work. Unlike metals that need to be cut and grinded with loud power tools, or composites that need toxic chemicals to be mixed and sprayed; timber can be cut and shaped with simple tools, it produces a sweet smell when worked and is comfortable to the touch.

When one goes into a modern boat-building yard the sound is unbearable. Grinders and cutters are constantly at work, and big sheets of shiny metal and being man-handled around the shed.

Now step across the road, or maybe back in time. Those same boats would have been built of timber. Yes, there would have also been plenty of noise with thicknessers and band-saws spinning merrily to keep up with the job, but the shed would be filled with a pleasant aroma, and underfoot would be soft shaving from the day’s work. Here you would find a team of workers who went about their day with quiet satisfaction. Sneak around the corner and you might find an old master shaping some spars, or a young apprentice for that matter. They're in their own world there, quietly working away. And behind that furrowed brow is a person who is happy at their work, and so they should be. I'm yet to find a similar experience in a modern boatshed.

Sustainability

Wood is undoubtedly the most sustainable building material available. Of course, there have and will continue to be issues with destructive logging and clear felling, however, with a combination of properly managed forests and plantations, I wholeheartedly believe that we can continue to expand our use of timber. Plantation timber with modern treatment methods makes up the bulk of our timber requirements, and sustainably managed old forests can service the rest.

Wood requires the least amount of process to go from raw form to finished product and is entirely renewable. Whereas metals need to be mined, then they need to go through complex and highly energy-intensive process to form the product that then has to be worked to the desired component. A tree simply grows, it is sent to the mill and cut up, then delivered to the builder. What could be simpler?

Old Growth

There are some situations where old-growth timber, and non-plantation species are required for a job, such as certain components of a wooden boat, furniture timbers, etc. In this case, trees can be selectively cut from old forests. If care is taken and only the right trees are felled, the forest will maintain its ecology and continue to thrive and produce.

Plantation Timber

As we already know, the future of wood as an engineering material lies in plantation forests. There are plantations all around the world that produce a large percentage of the building materials for the construction industry. Here in Australia, we have almost 2 million hectares of plantation forests. These are mainly Radiata and Hoop Pine. Normally these timbers have low decay resistance, however, with modern penetration treatments, this is greatly improved. As wood preservation technology increases, plantation timber will only get better.

Forests, especially fast-growing plantations, have a remarkable ability to absorb carbon and produce oxygen. We need to plant more trees.

I will use my ocean rowing boat as an example of how wood can be used sustainably and effectively. The backbone structure is all recycled Oregon, taken from an old building and sold at a demolition yard, as opposed to being bulldozed and thrown away. All the hull planking is plantation hoop pine plywood.

These trees were grown an hour drive from where I live, and the plywood factory is 10 minutes down the road. It’s hard to get more sustainable than that. I could have bought a cheaper and more lightweight plywood, however, it comes from questionable sources in Africa, is then shipped to France for manufacture, then back on a ship to Australia. This is hardly environmentally friendly or sensible.

With modern coatings, I know that my boat will have a long and serviceable life. This leads to the topic of lifespan. So much of the products we buy today are made from materials that have an almost indefinite lifespan. Which, to me, seems completely nonsensical when the object being produced will most likely be obsolete or out of fashion within the next 50 years.

I understand that the boat I am building will not easily find another owner when the time comes for me to move on, it might be wrecked, or fall into disrepair. However, I am content with the thought of my boat, after a long and useful life, slowly degrading back into the earth. A dignified end for a boat that was once a tree. Who knows, perhaps a tree will grow from that very spot, and turn into a completely different boat in another life, or maybe a chair. Nothing needs to last forever.

Connection

Now let’s say, in 40 years’ time, another young person decides that that old boat for sale is the one for them. They can access the damage, buy some new plywood, read a book or two on the subject, and get to work. If this boat were to be made of metal or fiberglass, a whole new skill set would be needed, and a whole lot of harsh materials would need to be bought.

A boat made of wood can easily be repaired with some simple carpentry skills. Working with an unadulterated material such as wood is much easier to comprehend and connect to. This feeling of understanding can only be beneficial for the mind and soul.

In our modern concrete, plastic, bitumen, fake grass world, we are constantly surrounded by ugliness and alien materials that the layman cannot fathom. We need cane chairs to sit on, real grass under our bare feet, and walls made from wood.

Office spaces the world over are completely devoid of natural materials, and our underlying human need for connection to the objects around us is quashed by the unfailing march of modernity, progress, and that tricky human desire to make more money.

Cutting down trees to save the environment, and our souls, may sound absurd but it’s the path we should follow.

So next time you go to buy a chair, boat, house, or any object for that matter. Consider what it’s made of.