This podcast/mp3 talks about why Australian (and New Zealand) wooden boatbuilding is different from the rest of the world.
Largely it is because we had an extra 20 years of wooden boat development before fibreglass took over.
Generally our timber racing boats and racing boat classes were half or less than half the weight of similarly sized Northern Hemisphere boats.
Ours averaged about 8 to 10 lbs per foot of length with complete durability.
There is a good reason why this happened but you will have to listen to the podcast!
Also more about design and construction – the details that made such light weights possible.
This ideas have profoundly influenced me and are one of the reasons my boats are different from most others.
Or you can download here
Talk on Boat Building and Design Part 1 – Portland OR.mp3
Further information can be found:
The PDRacer that helped formulate a lot of thing thinking about performance with low cost
Making sailboat rigs work better – mostly lug, lateen and sprit boomed rigs, but relevance to all cheap sailboat rigs.
