Shooting True Colors: Navigating Shifts in Paint Chemistry
The afternoon before the first coat of topside paint went on a 100’ (30.5m) sloop, the crew of applicators at Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, Maine, gathered to talk through… Read more »
Materials
Bringing Flax Fiber to North American Builders
Sometime around 2010, German boatbuilder Friedrich Deimann built his first flax-fiber composite boat, a two-person kayak, as a project to qualify as a master boatbuilder. In the ensuing 16 years, the art of building boats with natural-fiber composites has come a long way.
A Maine Startup is 3D Printing Tenders
Boat Evolution’s 3D-printed tender is made from recyclable plastic feedstocks, so it’s fully recyclable at end of life. They plan to be in production this fall.
New Skin for the Old Ceremony
It’s rare to find a truly new approach to a problem that’s plagued seafarers for millennia, but Finsulate film wrap offers such a fix for marine fouling. Life abounds in… Read more »
Corrosion Evasion, Part 2: Corrosion Risks in Stainless Steel and Aluminum
We continue our primer on corrosion vulnerabilities of common marine metals from Part 1: Preventing Galvanic, Stray-Current Corrosion in Professional BoatBuilder No. 212. Stainless Steel Since its accidental discovery nearly… Read more »
Corrosion Evasion, Part 1: Preventing Galvanic, Stray-Current Corrosion
There’s a conversation I find myself having on too many occasions that goes something like this: Jim: “Hey Steve, I’m interested in purchasing/building this vessel. It’s XX feet, does XX… Read more »
New Recycled, Recyclable Composite Panels for Boatbuilders
Multihull pioneer Walter Greene kept a deliberately low profile as he built some of the legendary racing sailboats of the last century at Greene Marine, a disarmingly modest yard on… Read more »
Breaking it Down: Tank-Free Solvolysis Technology Reclaims Glass and Carbon Laminate Material from Large Parts for Reuse in New Boats
I first visited Tern Boatworks (Lahave, Nova Scotia) in the spring of 2022. At that time, the two-campus boatyard with a crew of about 12 was focused on readying the… Read more »
Panel Discussion: Supersede’s Alternative to Plywood
Manufactured sheet goods are essential to modern construction practices. Few residential or commercial structures built today are completed without a significant investment in plywood, OSB, MDF, sheetrock, melamine board, etc…. Read more »
3D Printing Lessons from a Surfboard Shop
Reading the Small Print Easily stored in a garage or closet and transportable on a bicycle, surfboards are some of the simplest buoyant watercraft on the market today. But as… Read more »
