Fishing boat designs: 2V-bottom boats
of planked and plywood construction.
Non-formal education

By Øyvind Gulbrandsen
Fishery Technology Service (FIIT)
Fishery Industries Division (FII)
FAO
Grimstad, Norway, 1997
Pages 64
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/DOCREP/003/W7260E/W7260E00.HTM

This publication includes the designs of 4 small fishing vessels (5.2 to 8.5 metres), comprehensive material specifications and lists, and provides very comprehensive instructions for their construction, both planked and of plywood
Timber remains the most common material for the construction of boats under 15 metres in length. There has been a change towards Fibre Reinforced Plastic in most developed countries and some developing countries, but in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, probably more than 90% of small fishing vessels are built of wood. The cost advantage of timber versus other materials is still sufficient to ensure that it will remain the dominant boatbuilding material for a long time to come in developing countries. However, unrestricted or illicit access to forest resources and the introduction of rational forestry management policies have caused and will continue to cause a scarcity of the sections of timbers traditionally favoured by boatbuilders.
The resultant scarcity and high cost of good quality timber have not meant that less wooden boats are being built, but rather that vessel quality has deteriorated through the use of inferior timber and inadequate design strength.

Related links

Fishery Technology service website
http://www.fao.org/fi/staff/staffiit.asp
Fishery Training series
http://www.fao.org/fi/eims_search/advanced_s_result.asp?series=214&sortorder=3&form_c=AND&lang=en

Contact: Jeremy Turner,
Fishery Technology Service (FIIT)
Fishery Industries Division (FII)
FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla 00100
Rome, Italy
Jeremy.turner@fao.org