Since I am more comfortable working on a wood hull, but desire the clean lines of a gelcoated fiberglass hull I have a question. Has anyone tried/seen a wood hull frame planked over with thin basswood and then once that was sanded nice and clean, had the glass applied directly to it? Once the glass is sanded windows are cut per SOP and worked from there.
Seems like a lot of work for a hull that has no inherent advantage, that will be covered with balsa wood in any case. If you did it, it would be legal, just extra work.
I've seen it done like that a couple of times, bottoms planked over with maple veneer or strips of other hardwood, but only the bottom portion of the hull gets planked. The windows were formed by regular wooden ribs, not cutouts. The last wood hull I made back in 1995 was done that way with 1/8" thick wooden ribs. Ron Hunt
