2020. Old boat, new life

Welcome to the special section “GdV 5th Years.” We are introducing you, day by day, An article from the archives of the Journal of Sailing, starting in 1975. A word of advice, get in the habit of starting your day with the most exciting sailing stories-it will be like being on a boat even if you are ashore.

Old boat, new life

Taken from the 2020 Journal of Sailing, Year 46, No. 04, May, pp. 86-91.

We tell you how fiberglass has given new life to glorious over-five-year-old boats such as Dinghy 12, Contendere, Snipe, Flying Dutchmann, Flying Junior, Vaurien. And how these classes still have a huge following in Italy.

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We tell you how fiberglass has breathed new life into classes of originally wooden “over 50” boats that, today, count on many enthusiasts and rich calendars of regattas and rallies. But beware, wood endures…

Dinghy 12 feet, Vaurien, Snipe or Snipe, Flying Dutchman and Flying Junior, Contender, Dragoon… classes of boats born in wood three or four generations ago, which for more than thirty years continue to evolve in performance and win in regattas, thanks to the partial or total replacement of wood with fiberglass. A material that, while it has led to an undoubted increase in performance, has also lowered maintenance costs, contributing to the spread in Italy of classes that otherwise would have been the preserve of a few. And which, over the years, have been able to express outstanding champions. To understand how fiberglass has breathed new life into these historic boats (which have busy regatta calendars and rallies), we interviewed two strong athletes, testimonials of the evolution from plywood to glass, Marco Faccenda (seven-time Vaurien world champion and owner of Cantiere Faccenda) and Andrea Bonezzi (also a seven-time world champion, among Contenders). To their testimonies we combined that charged with passion, by Fabio Mangione (Italian Dinghy Classics champion) and the knowledge of Roberto Franchini, president of theItalian Vaurien Association.

Are driftwood still being produced?

Are wooden dinghies still being produced? Marco Faccenda answers, “Wooden boats are unfortunately hardly built today, because it takes much more time and labor, so the costs rise. For example, it takes 23 days of work for a wooden Vaurien, while a fiberglass boat only takes half that amount.” For some years now, Andrea Bonezzi (owner with his brother Luca of the BonezziSailing shipyard) has also no longer been building Contenders exclusively in wood (although, as we tell you in a dedicated box, the two brothers have developed a revolutionary “hybrid” technology). For the Snipe, Daniela Semec, of the Italian class, confirms that there are no Italian shipyards today that build Beccaccini (the Italian name for the Snipe) in wood and the only option is self-building, well documented in online tutorials. The timeless Dinghy, on the other hand, is an exception: for Fabio Mangione “the Dinghy is the ‘Vespa’ of the sea, it is a relatively slow boat but capable of giving unrepeatable sensations. And having it in wood is a manifestation of pure passion. George Cockshott ‘s 1913 design, however, has benefited from the introduction of fiberglass in recent times: not only has it saved the class, but it has also made racing even more interesting because of the wood/glass comparison that has become increasingly refined over the years.

Do fiberglass boats go faster? Not always

Common opinion is that fiberglass boats perform better than their wooden ‘grandmothers’. According to Faccenda, “when sailing, the difference comes from the fact that GRP boats today are much more advanced and the hull is more rigid.” Franchini explains that ” At sea, the response of the hull to the wave is crucial. In the transition from wave crest to cable, the boat receives structural stresses that tend to make it close and open. The stiffer hull has less deformation, shrouds and forestay keep their tension constant, the mast swings less, and because of this there is less sail deformation. In salt water a fiberglass boat today is not beatable. On enclosed bodies of water such as Garda, Bracciano or Lake Geneva, with fewer waves, the wooden boat is still competitive.” . The situation for the Dinghy is different; in fact, Fabio Mangione argues that. “today the two types of boats race almost on equal terms in the more than 100 regattas that are held every year throughout Italy. I am a fan of classic boats and therefore had no choice but to choose a wooden Dinghy. Compared to the GRP boat, the wooden Dinghy has better course stability and smoother handling. The all-wood rig, being less rigid than aluminum, allows more tolerant air handling while still providing excellent performance.” In the Dinghy class, even in all open regattas (i.e., open to GRP boats as well) there is always a ranking reserved for classics who also compete for overall, of course. This year in Imperia at the Italian open championship with my blue wood Nashira, I ranked third overall and won the title of Italian Classics Champion. Paolino Viacava in 2012 in Scarlino won an Italian open championship with a wooden boat, but he is an all-rounder. The performance between wood and GRP of the Dinghy 12′ is getting closer and closer. I personally resist the temptation of Stefano Lillia (GRP Dinghy builder, ed.) to make me a new mahogany-colored boat. Wood is always wood…” .

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What are resins 2.0

Building a high-performance racing hull today requires an enormous amount of experience, many times more than that required to build in wood. In fact, Marco Faccenda explains. “each boat has its own type of resin and its own different type of fiberglass, with directional-axial fabric. Resins since 1997 have evolved a lot. Even regular polyurethane resins, without even going on epoxies, have incomparable performance compared to those of the 1990s. There are so many products, each with a specific use. Some boats need to be very stiff, others less so. Then there is the shape of the hulls, to be evaluated class by class. For example, there are hulls in which you can put a lot of sail and others that limit sail area. In a class like the Vaurien, because the hull is quite flat, the sail plan has been modified and increased quite a bit. On other boats such as the 470 this extension is not possible because the boat with more sail would tend to gag. We are a historical yard and we are working with the 420 guys, the 470 guys, with the Vaurien, Flying Junior…. We are in the process of continuous and evolution.” And weight management, in relation to tonnage: “When you build a boat, before the final stage, the boat weighs less structurally than the minimum imposed weight. You then have to increase the fiberglass to reach the tonnage value: that’s where there are the discretionary margins of the shipyards, who reinforce the hull where they see fit according to experience.”

The slow evolution of the Vaurien

Beneficial as it was, however, the switch to fiberglass was not immediate, Roberto Franchini explains: ” for the Vaurien, which has an angled hull, fiberglass was introduced in the early 1990s. At that time the only licensed builder was Gavazzi who built from original concession drawings. There were for a number of failed experiments in the early years because the edge joints in GRP alone were not stable. The issue was overcome with the introduction of the wafer, called Termanto, which is a sandwich of two fiberglass skins with some rigid foam inside. The weight is virtually equal to that of fiberglass but the structural rigidity is far superior. This technology changed the rules and the Termanto sheet was equivalent to 4-5mm marine plywood in terms of weight but with much greater stiffness. They began to create non-deformable boats that were much better performing than wood (and also non-rotting). On boats not with an edge, but with a round hull, such as the Flying Dutchmann, this initial difficulty of fiberglass was less” .

Contender, the “peaceful coexistence” of wood and fiberglass

Regarding the Contender, A ndrea Bonezzi tells how. “wood and fiberglass have always lived together in the Contender class. What has changed a decade ago is having approved the introduction of epoxy in hull construction-this has led to ‘plastic’ boats being much more competitive. I would say that the advantage of plastic is to have a greater possibility to customize the boat according to conditions and according to the owner, in fact it is easy to change the glass layers and weights at various points of the hull: with plastic you can make much lighter boats. On the other hand, wood has the advantage of greater stiffness when the sandwich is joined and saves weight on paint or gelcoat.”.

Wood, it takes passion

Of the performance we have talked. But it is true that wood evokes an unquestionable fascination, and on this our interlocutors all agree, starting with Marco Faccenda: “The difference is similar to that between an Ikea piece of furniture and a piece of fine wood furniture. When you take your wooden boat to the sea everyone comes up and looks at it, when you take your fiberglass boat they don’t get as excited. I still have my wooden boats that I keep at the sea and sail on!” Roberto Franchini echoes him: “When you sail on a wooden hull, you take on the awareness that you are aboard a piece of history. In front of a well-maintained boat, curiosity soars. In 2010, I had my Vaurien (which I built from 1986 to 1987) repainted by Faccenda Shipyard of all places, and they did an excellent job. When I showed it to the club, everyone came to see it and ask about it, including young people.” . Fabio Mangione adds that “what makes the big difference between wooden and GRP Dinghies is the sound of the wooden clinker hull on the water, as well as the beauty of the traditional construction of nailed planking and all the details made entirely of wood.” Andrea Bonezzi also makes it a matter of pure passion: “The emotions, between plastic and wood, are not specifically about racing: the latest fiberglass boats made with epoxy give the same emotions. The difference is in sailing in general, or when the boat sits on the trolley in the garage: for many it is an aesthetic and heart factor. There is a greater bond between boat and owner because wood requires more maintenance.”

Maintenance and costs

And since we have been talking about maintenance…. let’s take stock of this sore point. Mangione argues that “It goes without saying that a wooden boat requires more attention. Such attentions however are nothing prohibitive, it should simply be treated as a beautiful lady.” Marco Faccenda is also on this line, “It’s all about dedication and proper maintenance, the boat should not be abandoned: if one leaves the wooden boat at the sea all year round, after five years one will surely have to have it repainted and refitted, with significant costs (3500- 4000 thousand
euro). If, on the other hand, the boat is kept indoors with proper storage, under a canopy for example, minor maintenance is enough to make it last much longer. It also depends a lot on the paints used; today there are very consistent polyurethane paints that last much longer than traditional paints.” . Of course, you have to be more careful with the wooden boat, because a scratch remains, says Andrea Bonezzi: “It often happens, with the trapeze hook, that you damage the deck in a scull or that some pebble scratches the hull when launching the boat in the water.” To preserve the wood, Roberto Franchini tends not to use it in races anymore: “You worry about not ruining the boat, you are delicate in maneuvering, and performance suffers!”

How I build you the wooden boat

Bonezzi Sailing, prompted by requests to build wooden boats again, has created this winter, two unique Contenders: the entire first layer of the hull is mahogany wood, but the technique is that of infusion! Luca Bonezzi has managed to develop a technology to dry lay the wood sheet along all the marked curvatures of the hull lines, and have epoxy resin (authorized by the Contender class since 2012) permeate into the fibers. The innovative wooden boat is extracted ready for polyurethane coating. The production cycle, is safe for the operator who never comes in contact with the resin, vacuum benches, minimize ‘dust emission and waste disposal/recycling is strictly EU compliant. The result is extraordinary, and it is beautiful. Danish champion Søren Dulong Andreasen is the first to try it and is enthusiastic about the performance. Bonezzi Sailing ‘s Contenders boast forty years of experience confirmed by world-class sailors, chief among them seven-time world champion Andrea Bonezzi, Luca’s brother. They have recently won the European championship (again with Andrea Bonezzi), a world championship with Mark Bulka, multiple Italian championships, and the Swiss, French, and German championships… they have won just about everything! The price of the fiberglass boat is about 12000 + VAT, the boat with wood finish costs 2,000 euros (+ VAT) more.

by Luigi Gallerani

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