Fiberglass Hulls

For thousands of years, wood was the hull material of choice. This was the norm until fiberglass was introduced! Some will argue of the virtues of other hull materials but the truth is, all hull materials existed when fiberglass was introduced and fiberglass has dominated the market as the standard hull material for all personal boats being built.

The expert I interviewed was Matt from MJ Sailing as they have sailed extensively on a fiberglass sailboat, then an aluminum sailboat, and are now building a fiberglass catamaran to go on their next adventure!

Plywood Hulls

When I say plywood, you are probably thinking of a wooden boat; but while plywood is “technically” a form of wood, the construction methods differ so greatly that it would be like saying that a horse and a mouse are the same thing because they both have four legs!

Ferro Cement Hulls

Cement boats? I know this sounds ridiculous but they have been making the boats out of ferro cement for a very long time; and they actually have some impressive properties!

Ferro Cement is very different from “Concrete” as those boats all were plagued with problems (and most of them sank). Ferro Cement is different and holds up really well in the marine environment. The metal frame is never exposed to water and therefore remains entombed inside the cement as the boat voyages around.

The main advantages of this hull material are that it is incredibly strong, while the biggest disadvantage of the ferro cement is that the boats are incredibly heavy. A heavy boat is only a disadvantage to someone who wants to race along light winds. To me, as a bluewater cruiser, a heavy and incredibly strong hull sounds like a dream come true!

Aluminum Hulls

Aluminum used to be called Unobtanium because its properties were so advantageous but they simply couldn’t make enough of it to actually build something out of it. Fast forward a few hundred years and we can all sail on yachts made from this wonder material of the future!

Wooden Hulls

The series is finished! I have interviewed cruisers on various hull materials to ask them what it’s really like to own and sail on a boat made of X material.

The first video in the series is Wooden Hulls where we get to hear about what it’s like to cruise on an old wooden classic from 1966!