My 1967 hatteras. The upright behind side windows that holds roof and flybridge up has wood in it...and it is wet! Other than that only mahogany interior panels. And some cockpit deck supports. No wood in stringers or transom.

I am all for the not wood concept everywhere but the transom. The cored material is susceptible to compression failure which I have seen on performance boats in the past. I've talked to a number of builders including Doug Wright and John Cosker who agree. The Dragon and GTMM39 boats that I was involved with all had African Mahogany transoms.

I think a lot of people condemn wood when there are clear reasons why certain manufacturers have problems. Many of these builders don't practice proper boat building techniques. Examples would be, not sealing the wood, using non marine grade plywood, not sealing rigging screws..... Then there is the issue of older poly boats that just leak through the substrate quite a bit more(less watertight) than lets say a modern vinyl Ester. Nordic is one of many that went composite, however they didn't do it because they were having a rot issue. They are one of the manufaturers known for not having this issue. Buyers like the piece of mind, and in the end you have to keep them happy if you want to sell boats. Surprisingly their boats aren't much lighter vs the wood/fiberglass offerings prior to 2008. In the end if you have superior technology(with respect to its water resistance) that has become affordable, you use it. When done properly, there is nothing wrong with a wood/fiberglass boat.

My 1972 Allmand has no wood except for 1/2 of the transom and it's made of what I call Iron Wood. It must be African Mahogany. 40+ years exposed wood where they cutout the outdrive hole and you still cant drive a nail in it.

I can't agree more with your comments. There are a number of very fine boats that have used wood in a number of structural places. However, even with the most stringent process parameters, processes do vary- and in some cases this variation is so subtle that only after many runs/lots or in this case boats does one see process shift --not that it was out of spec - just different. The switch to composites was most likely the result of market demand as well as a reduction of process variability or cost. Also, a boat leaving a factory is not necessarily how the boat will be maintained or used. I've seen a number of - well intentioned owners-- get these high pressure sprayers and just blast the snot out of their outdrives and the areas where they seal against the transom -- well dugh- blast enough high pressure water into this area and I don't care how well the manufactured or controlled the "seal" process something has got to give.

I vote for composites for a couple of reasons. I believe they are structurally a little more sound and in my mind it takes some of the "worry" of degradation. Of course I keep boats a little longer than most.

These are all IMO

3pointstar

I agree that if a boat is taken care of it should last a long long time. As I have been trying to buy a go fast boat for the last several months I have ran across some boats that it seems that they should not have been having issues already. For instance a 10 yr old Fountain that supposedly has a bad transom. And this boat does not set outside every day of it's life. The boat is pretty much everything that I want but I have no idea what is involved in fixing a rotten transom on that kind of a boat.

Is there any kind of magic glue or chemical that can be injected into a stringer or transom?
thanks RB

Wood isn't the problem ,Water Intrusion is...Even in a composite boat once water intrusion starts then the problems begin with wet core followed by delamination...The biggest culprit is NOBODY bothers to re bed their hardware,,,most production company's use silicone or a marine grade silicone and it's junk,,,even the better polyurethane adhesives are still only good for about 5 years...The company's that take the time to do an infused ,scrimp or vac bag layup and properly resin or epoxy impregnate the core and also decore any areas that mechanical fasteners are going through the core ,then the core material is lasting A LOT LONGER ,But very few are doing this because it is cost prohibitive...IMHO the smartest thing to do is re bed your hardware every 5 years and resin or epoxy coat any exposed core or wood...Just my .02 cents worth which is still three cents shy of a nickle....

This is the real reason that GlassDave loves Wellcrafts 😄

Mastercraft was the first to go wood free ttbomk.

if nothing ever broke or wore out, most of us would be flipping burgers...