You might have read my article on the Woy 26 recently, an exceptionally beautiful modern daysailer designed by Martin Menzner. This boat is much more than just a lightweight precious beauty: She is a showcase of boatbuilding skills, dedication and passion for craftsmanship and quite a visionary boat. Jan Bruegge, mastermind behind Woy, asks a simple question: „How do I want to build boats in 30 years?“ Because, frankly, plastic, may not be answer. For him, it´s timber. The sheer size of the audience celebrating the christening of WOY shows that this is indeed a topic of wide interest.
Up until the 40ies wooden boats had been the standard in commercial sipping and fhishing. With the advent of abundantly available cheap crude oil and its derivate products like polyester resin, it was the lesirue boating industry which had been made even possible. Plastic became the principle material of choice for boats. Now we see prices soar and also a growing ecological awareness. With boat-budgets going through the roof even for simple beginner´s boats, the search for alternatives is on. Whereas the big companies are investing in smaller, but nevertheless revolutionary steps to be taken towards a more sustainable future of boating, Jan Bruegge takes a bold one: Woy means „Wooden Yachts“, and here, the name is program. Locally sourced timber material, less chemicals, the use of high tech material aren´t skipped, but used wisely and pointed.
“How do I want to build boats in 30 years?”
I find this highly interesting! Jan Bruegge decided to partner up with one of Germany´s big names in yacht design: Humble, maybe hidden and often silent, Martin Menzner is not only a very capable yacht designer and renowned for his wide range of purpose-built ships and boats, but also an accomplished, very active and very successful regatta sailor himself. Combining his skills in naval architecture with an academic degree in industrial design, he´s not just able to make a boat float and go fast, but also look stunningly beautiful. Jan Bruegge´s choice for Woy´s designer couldn´t have been better.
I talked to Martin Menzner recently about his engagement with Woy, the very design of wooden boats and what it means to work with the natural material timber in boatbuilding. Here´s what we´ce talked about:
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Martin, with this beautiful Woy 26 and also some years ago with the much appreciated LA 28 you have made two „modern classics“ already for wooden boats here in Germany. Both designs received much attention, and it is well deserved I´d say. But it is a bit funny, because you as a designer are more known as a specialist for the material aluminium than for timber. What makes wood so interesting for you to work with?“
Martin Menzner: „Yes, I know. Berckemeyer Yacht Design is often associated with aluminium yachts only. Well, that might be the case because I do a lot of aluminium boats. At least that´s the impression. But looking at my work as a whole I can assure you that I´ve done almost as many wooden boats and also yachts in composite materials. To start with: Any material has its own advantages and also downsides. I´d say that a good design always takes into account both, maximizes the advantages, minimizes the downsides. It is a staple constant of my work that I put a focus on designs which are appropriate for the materials involved. That´s not just the inner structure of a boat. Ideally you can spot the material also from the outside and this not juts reduced to the bare surface but – where it is reasonable to do – through the form of the boat itself. What does that mean?”
“You can see the material used in the shapes I create”
“It means that for example my aluminium yachts have a powerful, edgy appearance. This fits the typical construction of an aluminium metal yacht. Wood on the other hand is an organic material. Accordingly, I prefer softer, rounder shapes. Which is also enhancing stiffness and makes me design more homogeneous structures. Wood is therefore predestined to be used for making modern boats. A proper design combined with this wonderful and oldest boatbuilding material has its own charms: For example, a bulkhead frame which has been made by many, many layers of laminated wood is pure eyecandy. And trust me, if you think this through consequently up until the end, if you do it properly and if there is nothing functionally against it, for me as a designer it is so delightful and joyful to make visible those structural forms in the outward appearance. Thanks to this freedom, I was able to make this happen both in my LA 28 and also in the Woy 26.“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Jan Bruegge and his Wooden Yachts-project have the aspiration to bring wood as a boatbuilding material back to life and to the attention of sailors and people alike. How do you find this endeavour?“
Martin Menzner: „I love it! You see, in a historic context, when looking at boatbuilding in a time axis, boats aren´t made of wood anymore for a reltively short timeframe. Humans have catched fish from simple wooden dugout canoes for centuries. With bigger wooden ships he explored and concuered the world. Up until the industrial revolution wood, if available, has been the prime and only material of choice to make boats and ships. As I said, glassfiber reinforced constructions for the growing leisure boat market had only started at the end of the 60ies. But still, boats made from other materials had always been around albeit in much smaller numbers. In relation to mass-produced GRP boats, wooden or aluminium yachts had been made in much, much smaller numbers, but at the same time these became something special, something exclusive and precious.”
“It´s much more than just another retro-classic.”
“I´d say that around the 90ies the topic of wooden boats had been revived by an overall „retro-trend“, let´s call it this way. You could see it on our streets where the numbers of oldtimers and classic cars grew. The Volkswagen Beetle or the legendary Fiat 500 had soon be re-designed and re-released, with great success. At the same time on the water you could witness refurbished classic yachts popping up, even classic yachts being built completely new. Also, newly designed boats had been build, made to look nice, designed to enjoy and appreciate. I´d say that it was not uncommon to make these new boats with wood to underline their classic references and that´s still a thing. To make these „new classics“ work in terms of modern sailing, those boats are fitted with latest technology like modern rigging, sails, keels and rudder blades. Those yachts are a niche, of course, nicely embedded in between the GRP mass market and those carbon- or aluminium one-offs. Jan Bruegge, however, is putting it all up a notch: As a young boatbuilder he is thinking about how he wants to build yachts in a 30 years timeframe. His answer is wood. Homegrown, locally sourced timber. He is driven by ecological thoughts. And it is particularly not his ambition to just make another nice looking retro-classic but first and foremost modern boats. I find this approach remarkable and exciting. Our Woy 26 is sailing proof that wooden boats have a future apart from just being beautiful retro-classics.“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Let´s dive a bit deeper into this retro-classic-theme: When speaking of a sailboat made of wood, people might instantly think of something like the Norwegian Dragon. The classic design, as you mentioned it. Your designs however seem to be teleported to us from a distant future. The Woy 26 could have been imagined by two Vendeé Globe skippers stranded on a deserted island … how modern can wood really be in terms of contemporary lines, planing hulls and such?“
Martin Menzner: „Well, yes, that´s exactly what I meant: A Dragon is a classic boat in the deepenst sense of the wort. Like an R-Yacht for example and anything else that is build that way until today. But why stick to those old patterns and not try to think modern? You see, the AC 75-yachts are structly aerodynamically optimized racing machines from carbon. As with airplanes – and by the way, this is what these are in the eyes of traditionalists – there is nothing which could make the airflow create even the slightest turbulence. So, if you build a hull or a shape, edges just don´t make any sense. If you think this to an end consequently you end up with a very similar, timeless and modern design language. Sure, you could go on and on making these beautiful „classic“ hulls and just put a new deck on these. Or you shape the hulls in a way that hull and deck become one. Both become one single unit.”
“Hull and deck become one. A single, organic unit.”
“I was driven by these thoughts when I drafted the shapes of LA 28 and Woy 26. And of course this also applies to the underwater shapes. There are no constraints of the material wood whatsoever. The precondition for a boat to start planing is, apart from the shape of the hull, the weight. So, lightweight construction is a must. In this, wood is wonderfully appropriate for this task. It is not just lightweight, when used properly and chosen wisely, it has the right stiffness and rigidity too. If used and combined with other modern materials and construction methods, the material wood has almost no limitations in boatbuilding. Additionally, when utilized properly and consequently you can save further weight by not having interior claddings, panels and other fittings. Compared to aluminium yachts for example, a naked, cold, empty – but otherwise lightweight – hull often becomes heavy and clumsy when fitted with a cozy, nice and warm insulated, completely furnished secondary „inner“ boat.“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „As a designer you not only make things look pretty and nice but also and foremost safe, I mean structurally sound and stiff. Can you explain the intricate material properties of wood in boatbuilding a bit more in detail and the things you have to take into account when designing a wooden boat built with this material?“
Martin Menzner: „Basically it is mainly the tensile strength of a material that is most relevant. In this context, carbon is one of the most interesting materials as you may know. Looking at timber, the tensile strength properties are very variable in each type of wood. It is also a matter of the very individual quality of the timber used, which can also vary. Thanks to composite construction techniques modern timber can take on big loads nowadays. For example, in the past, huge piles of solid Oak had been necessary to achieve structural stiffness – nowadays we can achieve the same rigidity with very thin lightweight composite-laminated parts. You can see it also in buildings, for example: Big halls can be made with long, self-supporting wooden constructions. And those, by the way, can turn out not only to be much more lightweight but also more durable and even more fireproof than their steel counterparts. A big role in this dance is played by the adhesives. In boatbuilding it is mostly epoxy resin. Parts laminated with epoxy resin are in no means comparable to the good old keel-beams of solid Oak. Wood, in principle, is very, very durable – and this is by far not because of the love of the owners to their boats but also directly connected to these fascinating material properties.“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Could you name a „top 3“-list of pros and cons of boatbuilding materials like GRP, carbon, aluminium and wood? For which type of yacht or sailing program is which material suited best?“
Martin Menzner: „Well, let´s try it. I think that, to begin with wood, timber is very much suitable for boats with a long lasting value, boats which should also last long in terms of service life. If done properly, wooden boats will outlive their first owners by a long time. It is not about constant refurbishing or refitting of wooden boats, of course, nowadays only very few wooden classics from the 30ies are floating in their original version. But apparently, their value was so high and stable that people maintain and sail them up until today. For me, this takes wood to the top of my list in terms of value. Many people think that wooden boats primarily are a black hole of constant maintenance and refit and that above all plastic boats are a thing of eternity. Well, this is not quite the fact and we know it not only because of the biting Osmosis-crocodiles … Composite materials and sandwich laminates are also not everlasting. Foam sandwich can deteriorate over time, honeycomb materials can turn soft over time and break. Structures can de-laminate. Carbon yachts made in these technologies are in my view not offering long-term delights. Besides, funny enough, in sandwich GRP boats it is just Balsa wood which is the core material with the most longevity, provided it doesn´t get wet and rots away.”
“It is funny to see that wood almost always seems to have superior material qualities.”
“Looking at metal, steel and aluminium have the clear advantage, if correctly dimensioned, that there is no material fatigue whatsoever. Their material properties will always stay the same, even over long periods of time. Of course, one strict requirement for working with metal as a hull material is that you don´t make a floating battery, which is called galvanic corrosion and you prevent oxidation, meaning that the hull rusts away. Well, the latter cannot be avoided completely over time. Again, funny detail: It´s the steel parts in wooden yachts which suffer first and the most. Re-enforcing wooden frames in boats with steel parts seems like an interesting combination but for me it´s not an alternative. Let´s look at GRP: For me, this is the most appropriate and suiting material when it comes to mass produced boats. It´s fast to work with and comparatively cheap. All the other boats are made in small series or as one-offs. That´s predominantly high performance racing boats with a minimal service life which are made of carbon. Boats for long haul unlimited offshore cruising are often made of aluminium because this material is very safe when it comes to collisions. It deforms, it doesn´t break. Wooden boats, I´d say, have their own timeless inner elegance and longevity. Besides, wood is sustainable as a living, growing material. So, from my point of view, the choice of the boat´s material is a questions of one´s individual preferences, not necessarily a question of material properties.“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Wood and wood is not the same. Is it still true what we have read in those pirate stories and books about the great explorers that for distinct parts of a boat´s structure some very distinct types of timber shall be used? Which wood is WOY made of, for example?“
Martin Menzner: „Of course! Types of wood have very diverse properties. There are light, dense, short-fibered and long-fibered, hard and soft types of timber. Some sorts are even suitable to be used as deck material without any pre-treatment, some others because of weight, density and the lengths of the fibers are practically unrivaled to be used as masts. Nowadays wood is mostly glued together, it is laminated. We therefore don´t need to carve out a keel from a huge solid piece of Oak anymore or to put thick planks of Mahogany onto a heavy frame. Thanks to epoxy resin & co we can have a hull´s outer body made out of two millimeter thin veneers which are laminated onto each other diagonally. What can be achieved by this technique in terms of the ratio of weight to stiffness is absolutely stunning. It opens up almost all possibilities one could imagine. Talking about WOY, Jan and his team very cautiously chose the type of timber used to make her. They intentionally skipped the use of any tropical timber by the way. Like it is the case nowadays so often, the discussion around tropical timber is sadly very undifferentiated and distorted, but apart from this, Jan wanted to use homegrown locally sourced timber for WOY exclusively. That is why the boat is almost completely made out of pinewood. Even the plywood had been exclusively made from pinewood as well. There is no Oak on WOY, where more stiffness or rigidity was needed, Jan used for example garments of flax.“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Sustainability is a top trend nowadays, sadly often only for PR purposes. Let´s talk about this topic in relation to the Woy or wooden boats in general. What´s about the energy consumption or energy balance of a wooden boat versus, let´s say, a GRP boat? Is WOY recyclable?“
Martin Menzner: „Well, as you said, the term „sustainability“ is an ambiguous term. If you, for example, compare a Tesla to a 50 years old VW Beetle you will begin to notice the complexity. It´s the same with boats. Take a 90 years old wooden yacht built back in the 1930ies – in many cases this boat is the winner of all classes when it comes to sustainability. You buy one of these and here we go: You are an exemplary sustainable owner. But not everyone wants to sail an 8-meter boat built in 1934, just like not everyone wants to drive around in a Beetle. I think what we can take away and learn from this is that longevity is indeed a non-negligible aspect when it comes to sustainability. Of course, recycling is an aspect, but I have the opinion that for example the height of the mountain of trash that is produced when a boat is built should also be taken into this equation. Because where´s your sustainability when half of the ressources used to make a boat don´t even end up finding themselves as being part of the boat in the end? Shouldn´t we take this into account as well? A total of some 96 percent of WOY is renewable material: Wood. Almost all of it is indeed used for the boat itself and still be a visible part of the yacht. There hadn´t been rarely any waste, trash of offcut. The question of recycling is a different one when looking at a work of art such as WOY compared to any ordinary series production GRP boat. None the less, you could put WOY to compost …“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Well, I hope and I am sure that no owner of a Woy will ever put her on the dry to be composted … Let´s talk about money. I know I´m doing this rarely here on NO FRILLS SAILING because we all know and understand that boating is luxury to a point and that it is a very expensive affair. Nevertheless, the budgetary aspects in this case are interesting. Of course, the quality and craftsmanship of a one-off cannot be compared to a mass produced GRP-boat. Nevertheless, is it possible to, for example, name a price per meter, or, maybe that´s easier, compare GRP to wooden boat in terms of mony needed to pay for it?“
Martin Menzner: „Well, that´s not so easy to be honest. I wouldn´t know how to average such an individual masterpiece and work of art, because they are very different from each other in their build, their equipment and usage. Also they vary much in materials used, techniques to build them and such. Wooden boats are one-offs strictly. That is even the case when these are built in small batches. You see, every little piece of wood is individually treated, cut, sanded and worked with. You simply cannot compare this building process to that of a GRP boat. My experience is that the budget needed for any one-off is the same in the end, no matter which material you go for. Aluminium, GRP or Wood. Even with the expensive carbon the difference is not that much anymore. The reason for this is that the labour cost for any one-off is almost the same: These are very special yachts made by very special craftsmen in elaborate, hours-consuming efforts. By the way, I strongly believe that in a foreseeable future we will have solely boatbuilders in this sector in Central Europe. On the one hand, the market doesn´t need these masses of cheap series production boats anymore, on the other hand such a production will not be able to be pulled off cost-effective and profitable in Europe anymore.“
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Oh, yes, that´s a formidable topic for another article. Or ten. Let´s come back to Woy: On the website it says that even bigger variants of this boat are possible. In general: Where is the limit for a wooden yacht?“
Martin Menzner: „If you mean a limit set by the materials – none. As I stated, wood has very superior qualities and therefore there are no limits for wooden boats in this respect. I´d rather say that the limit is the common sense. Or the rationale, let´s say. For example, Spirit Yachts are offering their wooden boats up to a size of 111 feet. In Turkey there is currently a 141 meters (!) long schooner in the making by Dijkstra Design – completely made of wood. The limit is the good reason. As for Woy Yachts, the aim is to make beautiful, modern boats to enjoy and have fun with on a weekend, maybe on a small cruise. Jan Bruegge is an exceptional boat builder, very young and has a sportive motivation. I guess the future Woy boats will make sense to be placed between the 26 feet WOY and some 46, 48 feet.“
A topic worth pursueing!
This is all so interesting! Thanks Martin for this elaborate, intimate and so interesting insight into your work! Wooden boatbuilding indeed has the potential to become much more focused on by the sailing community and widely accepted. RM Yachts for example is a series production brand specifically deticated to wooden-composite boatbuilding and they are showing that such a product sure has its market and customer base. By the way, they are sailing fantastically! I will follow Jan Bruegge and Martin Menzer, looking forward to get access to the workshop when the next beautiful Woy is in the making to show how such a boat is made.
Pictures Copyright © by Nico Krauss, Martin Menzner, Woy Yachts & Lars Reisberg
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