Karen Menpes England
Until the mid 19th century most boats were of all natural materials;
primarily wood although reed, bark and animal skins were also used. Early boats
include the bound-reed style of boat seen in Ancient Egypt, the birch bark
canoe, the animal hide-covered kayak and coracle and the dugout canoe made from
a single log.
Dr. Bill Streever describes a boat made by the native Inupiat people in Barrow,
Alaska: "It is a skin boat, an umiaq, built from the stitched hides of bearded
seals and used to hunt bowhead whales in the open-water leads during spring...
[15]
By the mid-19th century, many boats had been built with iron or steel frames but
still planked in wood. In 1855 ferro-cement boat construction was patented by
the French. They called it Ferciment. This is a system by which a steel or iron
wire framework is built in the shape of a boat's hull and covered (trowelled)
over with cement. Reinforced with bulkheads and other internal structure, it is
strong but heavy, easily repaired, and, if sealed properly, will not leak or
corrode. These materials and methods were copied all over the world, and have
faded in and out of popularity to the present. As the forests of Britain and
Europe continued to be over-harvested to supply the keels of larger wooden
boats, and the Bessemer process (patented in 1855) cheapened the cost of steel,
steel ships and boats began to be more common. By the 1930s boats built of all
steel from frames to plating were seen replacing wooden boats in many industrial
uses, even the fishing fleets. Private recreational boats in steel are uncommon.
In the mid 20th century aluminium gained popularity. Though much more expensive
than steel, there are now aluminium alloys available that will not corrode in
salt water, and an aluminium boat built to similar load carrying standards could
be built lighter than steel.
A wooden boat operating near shore
Around the mid 1960s, boats made of glass-reinforced plastic, more commonly
known as fibreglass, became popular, especially for recreational boats. The
United States Coast Guard refers to such boats as 'FRP' (for Fibre Reinforced
Plastic) boats.