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Contemporary Wooden Boat Building

Composite Building Technology

Bufflehead Segelkanu, Detail Masthalterung My boats have a handcrafted core of marine plywood or solid wood strips. I build decks from silver fir, western red cedar or various types of mahogany. I usually coat hulls and decks with thin glass fibre and epoxy resin. This coating cures like varnish and protects the wood from moisture very effectively. It is a perfect water barrier, and it does not swell or shrink. Boats built using this technique therefore remain absolutely watertight.
Inside, I coat the hulls with fibreglass or KevlarTM fabric and epoxy resin. The coatings make the hull rigid and very resistant. KevlarTM is extremely impact-resistant. A KevlarTM-coated boat hull can withstand impacts without leaking.
I build reinforcements in the hull and the rig from carbon fibre.

Bufflehead Segelkanu, Detail Schwerthalterung

This so-called composite construction method produces light, robust, durable and 100% watertight boats. The crystal-clear coating allows the wood to show off its full beauty and protects it perfectly from water and other environmental influences.

These boats have the potential to outlive their builder. Wooden boats become more and more beautiful as they age! They have the potential to become the classics of tomorrow that you can be proud of today.

Wooden boats - Expensive to Maintain?

In the past, the joints between the wooden planks were sealed with cotton or oakum and tar. These hulls are never completely tight. The water standing in the bilge causes the planks to rot after a few years. It is time-consuming and expensive to replace planks.
The deck and superstructure are made of solid wood. Solid wood warps. It expands expands and contracts again, and over time cracks appear between the boards, where the varnish flakes off and water penetrates. The damage must be sealed and repainted.

Segelkanu Bufflehead, Plankennaht Nowadays, the plywood planks are glued with epoxy, or veneers are moulded in several layers with epoxy. In addition, wooden hulls can be coated on the outside and inside with glass fibre fabric and epoxy. The resulting hulls are absolutely watertight, have a long service life and look beautiful. Superstructures are made of dimensionally stable plywood that does not warp.

In a restauration, these modern materials and techniques are often the only chance to rescue derelict classic crafts.

Robust and Easy to Mantain

My boats are robust and can withstand a few scratches and knocks. Modern wooden boats are - properly manufactured and treated with care - no more sensitive than laminate boats. For an almost unlimited life span please note:

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