Posted on 05/15/2012 7:13:08 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Well Duh! It’s too small to float. I reckon you make one about double that size and she’ll be seaworthy!
Correction (came to mind right after I hit “send”, naturally!)
Ancient people were *smarter* than we think.
I once learned about a very ancient boat that was made with layers with wooden pegs that pegged the layers together so that when the pegs expanded when wet they secured the layers together even better. The boat was wonderfully sea worthy and would last for much longer than ships built after it. I tried to search on the web for info about the technique and ship but can’t find anything about it.
I was reading a seemingly fascinating article in Nat Geo on an “amazing” fossil dinosaur that they found. They knew how big it was, what it ate, what COLOR it was, how it defended itself, and how it tended its young. Amazing stuff.
And then they showed a picture of the bone fragment. It was about 1” X 2”. Period. The whole article was someone’s imagination. Haven’t picked up a Nat Geo since.
http://www.orrvweb.com/wp-content/uploads/WhitePaper/Philippinestradingships.pdf
To save you time, scroll to p. 260 of the pdf
“And then they showed a picture of the bone fragment. It was about 1” X 2”. Period. The whole article was someone’s imagination.”
Yeah, all the hominid fossils ever found would almost fit in the bed of a pickup truck.
Now, I’m not denying the existence of the fossil record, but it beats me how they get from so little fact to so much conjecture, as a poster said above.
Seems to me it would take 3,500 years to build a 3,500 year old boat.
Things never work out right when you rush the job.
Yew did it wrong.
I lived aboard a classic 1956 Chris Craft Connie for 5 years and am very familiar with wooden boats. When a wooden boat is taken out of the water and “put on the hard” for painting or bottom work the wood shrinks as it dries. When we put them back into the water they are left in slings for sometimes up to a week with pumps in the bilge to give time for the wood to re-swell which tightens the seems back up. The packing we put between the boards cannot be too tight or as the wood swells it will buckle.
I was thinking about that, too. I am far from any technical knowledge, but I have been around boats all of my life.
Probably, the original builders set the finished boat in a marshy area to get the wood saturated with water, so that it would swell the seams shut.
re: “We aren’t as smart as we think we are.”
“I’d say it a little differently...ancient people weren’t as dumb as we think they were.”
I like the way you said it, too, but I do think it’s kind of both - we aren’t as smart as we think we are, and, ancient people weren’t as dumb as we think they were.
Archaeologists and Antropologists have not a glimmer of knowledge about boats and sailors. I have watched these goobers get it wrong all my life and it is really funny.
Those bronze age fellows undoubtedly used some form of caulking that might not have been evident from the relic original.
Wow! It's a dream of mine to have a wooden boat such as the one you lived on. People always tell me how impractical and hard to keep up a wooden boat is and try to pop my balloon. I think the romance of one might just be worth the trouble.
LOL I can surely empathize with that sentiment. I think I was either 11 or 12 when I first was bitten. I was 58 when I finally was able to get the chance.
>>People always tell me how impractical and hard to keep up a wooden boat is and try to pop my balloon.<<
Having been where you are I would never want to even appear to “pop your balloon” but I would want to prepare you for the dedication it takes. Unless you are very wealthy and can have all work contracted out you pretty much dedicate your life to that boat. Every square inch of that boat needs attention and there are a lot of square inches on a 50’ boat. Believe me when I say it’s a full time job and then some. I’m an accomplished wood worker having owned a company that built custom furniture so was able to do the work myself. I was already retired at that time and spent every day all day with some aspect of maintenance and totally enjoyed the time. We had her within a months worth of work ready to present at the spring boat show. She was gorgeous with her glistening mahogany and pearly white. Then the heartbreaking event that ended it all. Hurricane Ike put her one the bottom along with most of the other boats in the marina. She was a total loss. I will never regret putting all that work into that boat and look back with fondness the time we spent putting her in show condition. The satisfaction of hearing the oohs and aahs of the former nay sayers was sweet. The shock on their faces when they heard of the value the insurance company put on her was especially sweet. All in all it was something I would do again in a heart beat but would caution anyone contemplating owning a wooden boat to first evaluate and study the skills, time and dedication it takes to maintain a craft like that.
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