New Ways to Use Trees
Lyman-Morse 46 hull completed and being turned outside the boat shed. Photo: Alison Langley/Lyman-Morse
During the symposium at the recent Australian Wooden Boat Festival one of the more popular discussions was entitled “The Future of Boatbuilding Wood”. Tim Phillips, Peter Harris, Sarah Parry, Ian Johnston discussed the consequences and possible approaches for dealing with the ever diminishing supply of quality boat building timber. It was a forthright conversation, and one of the more stark conclusions was that we needed to find cleaverer and more diverse ways of using those timbers that we DO have easy access to.
So when I was pointed to this article from last months Yachting World I thought it would be would be worth a read. It’s comprehensive, mildly techical and points to a way forward for new timber boat building that doesn’t involve chopping down Huon Pine trees. That has to be good!
OUTLIER is a cold-molded custom 55-footer designed by Botin. Photo: Billy Black
How (and why) wood is making a comeback in yacht building
Why would a naval architect and structural engineer used to working with cutting edge materials for America’s Cup teams, including INEOS Britannia, and companies like Airbus, be excited about working with wood?
“It’s quite simple for me,” says French designer Thomas Tison, “Modernity does not neglect where we all come from – on the contrary it makes the best of it. In a way a boat is a heritage, so to ignore wood would be to ignore the essence of yacht design and building.
The beauty of wood inside a hand-crafted Spirit. Photo: Paul Wyeth