Profile of Environmentally Friendly Boats
The Charleston City Newspaper did itself proud in a profile of Jamison and Ryan Witbeck, two transplanted Vermont natives who for the past 2 years have spent their days building a 77 passenger wooden catamaran made out of plywood instead of age-old oak trees.
” A conventional fiberglass boat will end up in a landfill after 50 years, whereas a wooden boat, properly sealed with epoxy, could last anywhere from 150 to 200 years,” said Ryan.
Boat building isn’t the most environmentally sensitive industry where as old growth trees are the desired wood source for hulls and decks. On the boat that the Whitbecks built, 85% of the wood was sourced from young trees.
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