Originally Posted by
jjvw
The comparison to the development in boat (canoes and kayaks specifically) technology is an interesting one. At the risk of repeating what you just said, I can see how the switch from wood to aluminum to composite materials most certainly presented noticeable and meaningful improvements to the average recreational user. Specifically when it came to care and maintenance. Your average weekend boat warrior is likely rougher (not to be confused with agressive) with their equipment and is more likely to not care about maintenance and any required special care. Not to mention that dragging the thing to and from the roof of the car is likely a whole lot easier than in the past. None of those improvements are sexy. Durability and practicality isn't terribly attractive. Yet in this case, this development likely gets more to stay involved in the sport because the equipment is easier to deal with and is less likely to fail. Then, after a while the weekend boat warrior begins to lust after the old fashioned, heavy, fragile, high-maintenance and extremely beautiful-hand wooden canoe. It's counter-intuitive, backwards reasoning.
Good point!
Back in the late 80's, I built myself a kayak out of airplane-doped canvas over cut-out plywood frames. Definitely old-school...but darn, that was a sweet-handling 'yak, that could really take the waves.
With bigger boats, the differences between fiberglass and wood were much more dramatic. With a wooden boat, you either scraped, painted and caulked it...or it rotted away/sunk. Fiberglass ones, the hulls would last forever- it was all the stuff inside that would wear-out (Floors; upholstery; tanks; mechanicals; controls)- so you see old boats being junked, and the hulls are still perfectly fine...just everything else is worn-out.
I think a big part of the difference is [comparing boats to bikes] that with boats, there is the space/and weight isn't so critical, so that wooden/steel/molded foam-core structural members could be built-in to make the hulls as strong as need be- whereas with bikes, they are essentially totally reliant on the walls of tubing to carry all the stress/impact/weight. Picture a boat just made out of fiberglass panels, without any other stiffening structure....hehe, it'd be garbage.