5 Wooden Boat Myths

When I speak with people about wooden boats, a few predictable comments come up. Many of these objections used to be true but no longer are, many of them are just as true for fiberglass boats as they are for wooden ones, and some aren’t true at all! Fiberglass boats can be beautiful, and I have the upmost respect for the craftspeople who build and maintain them, so I am not making the claim that wooden boats are inherently better (though my personal preference is certainly clear!) I just want to clear up some apparent confusion about their wooden counterparts.

Here are five myths about wooden boats I hear repeated over and over, so hopefully this will set the record straight.

1. “Wooden boats just require so much more work.”

Nobody (hopefully) buys any boat thinking that they won’t need to maintain it. Just think of the car in your driveway—you didn’t drive it off the lot thinking that would be all you’d ever do to it. Eventually, the fluids, belts, and tires will need to be replaced, perhaps some body work will need to be done to fix dings and scrapes, and there might be after-market upgrades you’ll want to add to it.

Boats are no different, regardless of the material they’re made from. This objection really ought to be, “Wooden boats require more work and upkeep than fiberglass boats.” Don’t worry, this isn’t true, either!

It is true that if you neglect a fiberglass boat, it won’t rot and decay like wood, but go look at the back lots of marinas and storage facilities, and you’ll immediately be disavowed of any notion that a neglected fiberglass boat remains in decent condition. Boats require work to keep them up to your desired level of quality, regardless of material.

Wooden boats require different work than fiberglass, and you should definitely have that work done by a shop that knows how to work on wooden boats, but the amount of work is very nearly the same if you want the same level of finish.

2. “Wooden boats just cost too much to maintain.”

Again, what’s usually meant is that “wooden boats just cost more than fiberglass boats to maintain.”

But take two boats that are the same size, same quality of craftsmanship, built the same year, and with the same desired level of care, but one hull is made from fiberglass and the other wood. The cost of maintaining these two boats would be nearly the same. Wooden boats require varnish and epoxy sealer; fiberglass boats require waxing and Awlgrip. Try repairing a scrape in a side plank and a scrape in gel-coat, and you’ll quickly see if the latter is indeed less expensive (or easier!) Certainly long-term, the comparative cost of maintenance is about a wash.

3. “Wooden boats are too expensive.”

Often, this is based on perception. Well-built wooden boats are extremely beautiful, so they must come with an extremely high price tag, right? Go look at my brokerage page or check out marketplaces like Antique Boat America and actually look at the price tags. You’ll find the majority of boats for sale are listed under $40,000, many under $20,000. Go look at used boats made of other materials, and they’ll be either the same or often higher.

Knowing that wooden boat won’t take more work or cost more to maintain than any other, it’s an even greater deal! Plus, classic boats only become more classic, so they tend retain their value should you eventually decide to sell it.

Sure, if you want a 21’ Chris-Craft Cobra (only 55 were built!) or other collector’s boats, prepare to spend $350,000, but, speaking from experience, the only point wooden boats become too expensive is when you fall in love with them and go to buy your third, fourth, fifth boat….

4. “Wooden boats just aren’t that durable.”

Certainly, this one used to be true (although, when it was true, fiberglass had yet to be invented). When companies like Chris-Craft or Century built wooden boats in the 1930s, they issued manuals telling new owners to expect to replace the bottom planks roughly every 6 years.

Thankfully, technology has come a long way with epoxies, caulks, paints, and pretty much every other material used in boat building and restoration. Now, when we replace bottoms, we speak about their expected life in decades, generations, 20+ years. You’ll probably replace your tow vehicle twice before replacing a new, no-soak bottom.

I’ve worked on restoration and maintenance of boats 60, 80-years-old and found wood in remarkably good condition. I can’t say the same for fiberglass hulls—they haven’t been around that long.

5. “Wooden boats aren’t as fun.”

Okay, this isn’t exactly something anyone has said—I mainly just wanted to talk about it. If the fun you want to have on your boat includes surfing in the wake behind it, sure, wood might not be the right construction for you.

But start up a vintage inboard at the dock, and try not to smile at that growl. Slide a classic mahogany runabout off the trailer at the ramp and just see how many people stop what they’re doing just to watch your boat in the water. I dare you to not have a great time saying thank you to the tenth person who stops you to say, “hey, nice boat, can I take a look?!”

I hope this clears some things up about these beautiful wooden boats. What other myths have you heard?