Why is wood used for making boats?

Why is wood used for making boats? What properties does woods have? anyone have specific answers for this?|||Wood was originally used because it was readily available and could be bent into shape. Once other materials that required much less care became available and choice woods became harder to obtain and more expensive wood faded from popularity. However there are still boat builders that make all wood boats (many in Maine) and others that make a sort of hybrid called cold molded using wood frames and marine type plywood that is then covered and saturated with epoxy. These are very high end sport fisherman many of which are built in the Carolinas. There are people that swear by the sound and vibration absorbing properties of wood even though maintenance can be substantially higher.|||In this modern day of boat building, wood isn't used much any more. If there's wood, it's used for decorative trim, and now even the wood looking stuff is synthetics. Wood is no longer used is the "Stringers". There are a few places wood is used on boats, but all of these are plywoods like on seat backings, decks on smaller boats, dash boards and cabinets. Wood adds great strength without adding loads of weight. Also it creates a surface that can be stapled, screwed, glued and nailed on.|||I'm currently in the process of building a wooden Kayak. Built completely from scratch out of strips of cedar wood. Wood is a great boat building material.





- It's readily available - although getting harder and harder to find in long clear pieces.


- inexpensive


- Relatively easy to shape and bend


- Light weight - cedar is anyways, this 17' kayak will weigh less than 40 pounds.


- Strong. in relation to strength vs. weight, wood is stronger than steel.


- Fun to work with


- beautiful when finished





Most boats built of wood today are coated with a layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin. This coating dries perfectly clear, brings out the grain of the wood, light weight, and gives it amazing strength. The wood epoxy sandwich is extremely durable.. Kind of like say a snowboard, which is also a wood/fiberglass/epoxy sandwich and can take a true beating.





But as the others said, wooden boats are becoming less common for a variety of reasons. Most of the wooden boats built are being built by guys like me.. for a hobby and an awesome boat for not much money that you built yourself.|||wood is still commonly used, but plastics and fiberglass are taking some of the business.


wood is easily available, easy to shape and configure it to your needs. many types of wood to choose from with each having different properties appealing to boat building. wood is a traditional material, many make/buy wood boats for the shear history behind it.


wood is light and buoyant too, aiding in the buoyancy of the boat, some can even float when filled with water(dories are legendary for this ability)|||pound for pound, few materials are stronger. Those that are, are prohibitively expensive, and/or require specialized equipment and skills to manipulate.|||Y was wood used. Very few boat are made of wood as the price of wood and quality is declining.It's use for trim and interiors.|||-easy to shape and fix together


-lightweight therefore it floats easily


-can be waterproofed easily


-looks good





why d'ya wanna know anyway?