Wood has been the material of choice for building boats for centuries. More recently however, new materials have been developed to speed up the manufacturing process and improve durability. This has had a profound impact on the boatbuilding industry with the majority of builders moving over to these new materials to ensure they can remain profitable. Due to recent developments, wood is again becoming a competitor for the building of strong, lightweight, and long-lasting boats. 

Traditionally, wooden boats would be designed to be watertight by allowing a certain amount of "take-up" of water in the wood (and caulking if used). Although simple and effective, over time, this would lead to timbers needing replacement due to the onset of rot and/or marine borers in the wood. 

GRP avoided such issues but came with a significant environmental cost.

The relatively recent introduction of Epoxy Resin systems has led to a resurgence in the wooden boatbuilding industry as many of the issues previously faced by wooden boat owners in dealing with the gradual degradation of wooden hulls are negated by the use of Epoxy Resin for both structural connections and encapsulation of exposed wood. Although this does come with some environmental impact, the lifetime of the boat is vastly increased, offsetting the initial environmental cost. Furthermore, epoxy encapsulation of wood traps the carbon in the wood, carbon that would have otherwise re-entered the environmental carbon cycle if the tree were left to decompose. 

Disposal greatly less impactful than GRP.

Wood has a beauty to it that is unmatched by other materials.

Wood is exceptionally strong for its weight.