Boat building materials

Until the mid 19th century most boats were of all natural materials; primarily wood. Many boats had been built with iron or steel frames but still planked in wood. In 1855 ferro-cement boat construction was patented by the French. They called it Ferciment. This is a system by which a steel or iron wire framework is built in the shape of a boat's hull and covered (troweled) over with cement. Reinforced with bulkheads and other internal structure it is strong but heavy, easily repaired, and, if sealed properly, will not leak or corrode. These materials and methods were copied all over the world, and have faded in and out of popularity to the present. As the forests of Britain and Europe continued to be over-harvested to supply the keels of larger wooden boats, and the Bessemer Process (patented in 1855) cheapened the cost of steel, steel ships and boats began to be more common. By the 1930s boats built of all steel from frames to plating were seen replacing wooden boats in many industrial uses, even the fishing fleets. Private recreational boats in steel are uncommon. In the mid 20th century aluminium gained popularity. Though much more expensive than steel, there are now aluminum alloys available that will not corrode in salt water, and an aluminum boat built to similar load carrying standards could be built lighter than steel.

Platt Monfort invented Wire Plank(r)(1969), Fer-a-Lite(r)(1972), Str-r-etch Mesh(r)(1975), and Geodesic Airolite Boats(r)(1981). Fer-A-Lite(r) is a mixture of polyester resin, fiberglass, and a filler. This, along with Str-r-etch Mesh(r), could be used to build a boat in the same fashion as a ferro-cement boat, but the resulting hull would be much lighter and more resilient. Wire Plank(r) was first used in ferro-cement construction, but could also be used with Fer-a-Lite to create a medium to heavy weight hull. Geodesic Airolite Boats(r) are built using very lightweight wooden frames (geodesic) that are covered over with some lightweight heatshrinkable plastic or a synthetic fabric such as dacron coated with sealant. This tensioned skin adds to the overall strength of the structure and boats built thus are of the ultra-light variety.

Around the mid 1960s, boats made out of glass-reinforced plastic, more commonly known as fiberglass, became popular, especially for recreational boats. The coast guard refers to such boats as 'FRP' (for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) boats. Fiberglass boats are extremely strong, and do not rust, corrode, or rot. They are, however susceptible to structural degradation from sunlight and extremes in temperature over their lifespan. Fiberglass provides structural strength, especially when long woven strands are laid, sometimes from bow to stern, and then soaked in epoxy or polyester resin to form the hull of the boat. Whether hand laid or built in a mold, FRP boats usually have an outer coating of gelcoat which is a thin solid colored layer of polyester resin that adds no structural strength, but does create a smooth surface which can be buffed to a high shine. One of the disadvantages of fiberglass is that it is heavy and to alleviate this, various lighter components can be incorporated into the design. One of the more common methods is to use cored FRP, with the core being balsa wood completely encased in fiberglass. Cored FRP is most often found in decking which helps keep down weight that will be carried above the waterline. While this works, the addition of wood makes the cored structure of the boat susceptible to rotting. The phrase 'advanced composites' in FRP construction may indicate the addition of carbon fiber, kevlar(tm) or other similar materials, but it may also indicate other methods designed to introduce less expensive and, by at least one yacht surveyor's eywitness accounts, less structurally sound materials.

Cold molding is similar to FRP in as much as it involves the use of epoxy or polyester resins, but the structural component is wood instead of fiberglass. In cold molding very thin strips of wood are laid over a form or mold in layers. This layer is then coated with resin and another directionally alternating layer is laid on top. In some processes the subsequent layers are stapled or otherwise mechanically fastened to the previous layers, but in other processes the layers are weighted or even vacuum bagged to hold layers together while the resin sets. Layers are built up thus to create the required thickness of hull.

People have even made their own boats or watercraft out of commonly available materials such as styrofoam or plastic, but most homebuilts today are built of plywood and either painted or covered in a layer of fiberglass and resin.