How to Protect Your Boat from a Hurricane

Know your responsibilities at your marina. Read your dock contract to find any specific steps you might be required to take in the event of a hurricane or tropical storm.

Limit your boat’s windage, the surface area exposed to the wind. Remove rigging, canvas, and deck gear and turn your bow toward the greatest exposure.

Take the boat out of the water. The safest place for a boat is far away from a storm. This is especially important for smaller boats, open boats and boats with low a freeboard that can be easily sunk by surges and waves.

Find a hurricane hole. If you can’t get your boat completely out of the water, consider securing your boat in a local canal or river.

Get off the boat. Even if you have secured your boat in a hurricane hole, it is not safe to be on board during a storm. Secure the boat and then take cover, remembering that even expensive property can be replaced or repaired while human life cannot.

For more information on securing a boat during a hurricane, checkout this guide from Boat U.S.

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5 Tips for Green Boat Repair

1. Perform boat maintenance and repairs out of the water whenever possible.

All major repairs should be handled out of the water as well as minor repairs that can wait until you’re safely ashore.

2. Use tarps, drop cloths and protective drapes when doing fiberglass work, sanding or painting.

Even when you’re not in the water, remember that chemicals that hit the ground will eventually make their way into our water supply. Using a tarp to catch spills and a vacuum to clean up debris when you’re done ensures all waste can be properly disposed of when you’ve finished making your boat repairs.

3. Store cleaning and repair products in sealed containers to prevent spills or leaks.

Make sure your supplies are stored in an area where they aren’t likely to be kicked or knocked over easily and that they are protected from weather elements.

4. Keep absorbent materials nearby so that you can quickly and safely handle any spills of oil or toxic chemicals.

Accidents happen. Be prepared to minimize the damage when they do with oil absorbing pads.

5. Use water-based paints, solvents and adhesives, which minimize Volatile Organic Chemical (VOC) emissions that have been linked to air pollution.

The products you use on your boat will likely end up, even in trace amounts, in the water and air. Choose the most environmentally friendly options available.

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There are a number of ways to practice green boating, from choosing a green marina to buying green boating supplies.  You can also take a closer look at your energy sources, both in how you power the boat itself and how you power devices on deck.

Advancements are constantly being made in green energy right now.  Here are a few examples of green energy sources you can use for and on your boat.

Green Energy Sources For Your Boat

Solar Energy

The power of the sun can propel a boat and keep all of your electronic devices running on board.  Today, the most common way to utilize solar energy on a boat is through the use of solar photovoltaic systems, or solar panels.

Energy from Water

Formally known as hydrokinetic energy, it’s possible to use the motion of waves, tides and currents to charge a battery that can power an electric motor.  A device known as an impeller can be towed behind a boat, where it will have the least impact on performance, to transfer the energy created by the motion of the water into usable energy to propel the boat.  Currently, this is one of the more expensive and difficult to acquire technologies for green boating.

Incidentally, hydrokinetic energy can also be used to create renewable power on land as well.

Wind Energy

As long as there have been boats, there have been boats powered by the wind.  Large sails have been propelling boats for centuries, but today we can use wind to power the electric motor on a boat.  Wind generators are perfect for on board power since there is always wind to be captured when the boat is moving.

Although these green boating techniques will require a larger investment of your time and money to get started than others, they’ll also make a more significant difference in the impact you make on your surroundings.  They can also help you save a lot of money on fuel over the years.

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 The First Steps – You Have a Boat, Now What?

 

Where do I begin?

If you thought the expensive part of boating was going to be buying your boat you are almost right. Keep your checkbook handy for all the cool stuff that you need to enjoy your time on the water. Don’t panic here, but most serious sailors will tell you that equipping a boat to go cruising usually costs about a third of what you spent on the vessel itself. For those of us who are not heading off to Tahiti anytime soon the cost will be lower of course, but there is still plenty to do.  

Before we get too specific let me reiterate a concept from the early days of this blog. Being green is not cheap in the traditional sense of the word. As you are confronted by the dollar cost of the gear you need to go boating please remember the true cost of what you end up buying.

In our store we sell a lot of traditional nautical equipment- brass lanterns, barometers, and clocks, stainless steel, bronze, and aluminum hardware and all sorts of similar stuff. We are often asked how such products can be considered “green.” After all, there is no such thing as organic metal. 

There is however, a significant difference between the environmental impact made by the production, distribution, use, and ultimate disposal of one high quality item compared to the impact of buying a new, cheap version of the same item every few seasons.

To illustrate, let’s consider the environmental impact from the buying decisions of two boaters. Both need a new hand held compass, nothing fancy, just a reliable navigation tool every boater should have. Boater 1 buys a cheap $5.00 plastic compass. Boater 2 buys a nice brass and glass compass for $25.00.

From a dollars and cents standpoint Buyer 1 is probably thinking he can afford to replace his $5.00 compass 5 times before he spends what Boater 2 did in the first place. Looked at as a simple math problem Boater 1 is right. When you examine the true cost to the planet of his decision, however, Boater 1 will have a dramatically higher negative environmental impact than Boater 2.

First off, let’s look at the production of both compasses. While it does require more energy to melt and fabricate brass and glass vs. plastic the by-products that result from the production of plastic are much more harmful and persistent than those from brass and glass. Basic minerals, heat, and knowledge are what you need to make brass and glass. Complex petroleum-based chemical compounds, energy, and knowledge go into making plastic. Science is just now starting to unravel the long term damage caused by the numerous toxins that are released in the manufacturing of plastic. The creation of the popular plastic PVC ( poly vinyl chloride)  releases and creates this neat little poison called dioxin. Dioxin exposure has been linked to birth defects, inability to maintain pregnancy, decreased fertility, reduced sperm counts, endometriosis, diabetes, learning disabilities, immune system suppression, lung problems, skin disorders, lowered testosterone levels and much more. Perhaps the scariest aspect of plastic’s persistence in the environment is that everyone on the planet, no matter how remote they may be, now has measurable levels of chlorinated toxins in their bloodstream.

To get back to true costs for a moment, do you really think the health care problems, clean up costs, and numerous other negatives caused in the production of that $5.00 compass are not being paid for by someone? I don’t intend to turn this into an economics thesis, but I think it is safe to say we can add $10.00 to the true cost of the plastic compass from these factors alone.

Now let’s assume Boater 1 accidentally sits on his plastic compass and breaks it, or it just goes over the side. How do you measure the true cost of a piece of plastic  that has become a permanent part of the ecosystem? For those folks who don’t know, plastic is not biodegradable. Every piece of plastic ever made exists today in one form or another. In fact, one of the very first pieces of plastic ever made was installed on a WWII Japanese fighter plane. A sizeable chunk was recently found floating at sea, with serial numbers clearly visible. Perhaps some day bacteria will evolve that will find a way to eat this stuff, but conservative scientific estimates peg the time frame for such a possibility at 100,000 years or more in the future. To keep things simple let’s add another $5.00 to the true cost of making Mother Nature deal with an eternal plastic compass. 

If Boater 2 loses his compass over the side it won’t rot in a month, but it will eventually without releasing any neurotoxins or other equally awful stuff.

Now Boater 1 needs to replace his lost plastic compass. A drive to the store to buy a second compass doesn’t sound like much, but how much damage was caused producing that second compass and shipping it from China? Another $5.00? Lose a few more and it is easy to see that the cheap compass cost the planet much more than the brass version ever will.

Now I know there are holes to be poked in this little exercise, but at the very least I hope it makes people see past the myth that the cheap plastic compass only cost $5.00.

If my analogy doesn’t sell you on why you should outfit your boat with quality gear, all you have to do to convince yourself is spend some time on the water. Almost all the junk floating around where it has no business being is cheap, disposable crap.  Chunks of Styrofoam and an endless assortment of plastic everything can be seen bobbing in the waves of every Ocean and on the shores of almost every body of water boaters frequent.

When the time comes to shell out your hard earned dollars for gear it will be only natural that your conscience wrestles with your practical side. Just try to imagine the life cycle of what you are buying and remember, your initial expense is not the only measure of what something costs.

This does not mean you have to spend top dollar on everything your boat requires. For some things you do not want to be cheap – safety gear for instance, but my point is that you should not buy junk. Look for gear that will last, look for gear that does minimal harm when it is made, and look for gear that will cause minimal harm if it goes over the side. Besides doing the right thing for the planet, how cool will it be to hand your grandson the brass compass you used on one of your adventures, even if you never really had any?

Like most boat questions, it depends. Small boats are fun, easy to handle, and relatively inexpensive if you do your homework before buying. Bigger costs more, especially with boats. As you move up in size you require a bigger power plant to move you through the water, whether it is made of steel or canvas. I will leave it to you to experience the sticker shock on a 40-foot boat vs. a 30-footer, but be prepared. The single best answer for what size is right for you depends on how you will use the boat. If you have kids or lots of friends, too small will get old in a hurry. If you are looking for something to enjoy alone or with just that special someone you will probably regret the handling issues and maintenance involved when going too big.

Once again, the art of boat buying is all about compromise. Remember the opportunity cost of what you think you need and choose accordingly.

Beware of the very real syndrome of two foot-itis. Ask any boater who has owned more than one boat and chances are each new vessel was a little bigger than the last. “If she was just a little bigger I could _______” is heard a lot in marinas. Avoid this problem from the beginning by choosing the boat that fits you and yours from the start.

The green implications of size should be clear as day. The bigger she is the more fuel she will use and the more soap you need to clean her. Bigger boats need bigger everything; from dock lines to fenders, boat slips to trailers, the list goes on. Unfortunately so many of these peripheral products are made from plastic, petroleum and a wide assortment of unfriendly materials. Like most green decisions, once you make one it leads to more, each of which has a noticeable impact on the world around you.

What is the right boat for you? Read any book or boating magazine on the subject and you will usually get the same answer; it depends. Choosing a boat is all about compromise. If you want a boat you can spend a week on without going stir crazy you will not be doing a lot of water-skiing. If you have visions of crossing oceans there are no gas stations along the way. If you just want to hit the lake for the day, do you really want to take out a second mortgage just to pay for it? These considerations and many more all go into the decision process when buying a boat.
If you have never owned a boat before you can expect some serious information overload. You should also plan on receiving all sorts of advice, some valuable, some not, from those folks whose opinion you seek. Before you get too bogged down take a deep breath and just ask yourself what you really want to do on the water.
Whether you are an experienced boater or brand new to the sport, if you are buying a boat that is new to you think carefully and do your homework.  In these pages we will not be arguing the virtues of horsepower, twin vs. single engines, sloops vs. schooners, and so on. Countless volumes have been written to address these questions with much more authority than I can muster. What we will discuss, however, are the green implication of boat choices in general. With this thought in mind there are a few high points to consider.

New Boat or Used Boat?

There are only a few instances, in my opinion, where buying a new boat makes much sense. If money is no object you could easily commission a new boat built to very specific, very green standards. If you plan to sail extensively offshore the fact that your life depends on your boat is reason enough to go top of the line. 
For the rest of us mere mortals, however, it is hard to justify a new boat for several reasons.
The first of course is money. Brand new boats cost a lot. Just like a car, when you motor out of the marina in your brand new boat you just left a wheelbarrow of money on the dock. Now I know there are boat salesmen who will argue that a boat is an investment that will hold its’ value over time. In a few cases they may be right, but how many people do you know that ever sold their boat for what they put into it? Enough said.
Boats are toys. Great toys, fun toys, life-changing toys, but toys all the same. If you are reading this blog I assume you tend to think about how your purchasing decisions affect the world around you. From a purely financial standpoint, the money you save buying used instead of new could make a big difference somewhere else.
Opportunity cost is one of the few concepts I remember from my disastrous experience with college economics. Textbooks will tell you the opportunity cost of a decision is based on what must be given up as a result of the decision.  When comparing the brand new, super fancy $150,000 boat to the three -year old version of something similar selling for $100,000 the opportunity cost of the new boat is $50,000.
Regardless of the numbers involved with your boat purchase, take a hard look at the opportunity cost of the boat you want compared to the boat that would work just fine. The $50,000 you might save buying a used boat could probably outfit your home with solar panels or any number of green upgrades. Invested conservatively, $50,000 might mean the difference between retiring early instead of slugging it out until you are too old to do everything you want with your life. Run whatever scenario you want, the idea here is to focus on how your choices affect the world around you.
One caveat here is to beware the boat that is too old. There is a fine line between the opportunity cost of a really nice boat and the disaster that can be had in a bad one. We will delve into this more when we discuss propulsion systems later on, but it would be a mistake to assume a cheaper boat is always a greener boat. Saving a few dollars buying a leaky, rusty, fuel-spilling tub does a lot more harm than good.
A careful, patient, shopper, however, can find a great late model boat with low engine hours and all the bells and whistles with little trouble these days. Spending some time on the Internet at websites like Yachtworld will allow you to compare prices, features and anything else you are looking for in a boat.
Walking the docks at a local marina will also give you a good feel for what is out there. Be especially aware of the sun-faded “For Sale” signs and you might find a very motivated seller. Many boats have sold on a late Friday afternoon for half the asking price. Patience rewards the careful, informed boat buyer.

Once you find what you are looking for make the purchase contingent on the results of a survey. This is not the time to be cheap. Leave cousin Eddy at home and shell out a few hundred bucks for a pro - the money and potential frustration you will save in the long run are more than worth the surveyor’s fee.

Would you rather find out before or after you own the boat that she needs to have her hull completely redone because blisters have formed in the fiberglass? On top of the several thousand dollars you will shell out for repairs you will also be creating some terribly toxic waste. The actual repairs are done wearing a respirator and a haz-mat suit since the material used is so nasty.

Don’t be cheap, get a survey.

Again, there is no single answer, but there are definitely some factors to consider. The boats afloat these days are primarily fiberglass, some form of metal, or wood. Ferro-cement, carbon fiber, and other exotic compounds are in use, but they make up a small percentage of boats out there today so we will not be covering them here for practicality’s sake.

For those who really think they need a Kevlar hull or some other exotic synthetic be aware that the manufacture of these compounds involves boiling a type of plastic composite in a vat of sulphuric acid.

Not a very green process.

  FIBERGLASS 

NEW FIBERGLASS BOATS

Fiberglass is the most popular hull material out there for good reason. When laid up correctly fiberglass has a long lifespan and is relatively easy to maintain. From a green perspective, the interior of a fiberglass boat factory is about as environmentally unfriendly as any place you can find. Advances are being made all the time, but to this day most fiberglass workers still wear respirators on the job. Most, if not all of the chemicals used in laying up fiberglass are carcinogenic.

If you choose to get a new fiberglass boat the environmental impact of its production will vary from manufacturer. Making anything from fiberglass involves applying a chemical mixture of liquid resins and hardeners to woven sheets of soft fiberglass matting. Once the liquids are applied, the saturated fabric is allowed to dry, solidifying into a hard, durable surface.  The ability to mold the fabric into almost any shape, and the nearly impenetrable nature of the finished product make fiberglass an ideal material for boat building.
The potential for environmental damage in this process arises from the toxic chemicals that go into the liquids involved, and the noxious fumes that are released when they are being used. Unfortunately, the degree of sophistication you will find from boat maker to boat maker can vary a great deal.
The use of fiberglass materials is regulated by numerous government agencies, primarily the Environmental Protection Agency. Like most EPA standards, however, what the law allows and what is good for the planet are two very different things.
On the most offensive end there are boat-yards that play fast and loose with the rules, meeting the minimum requirements for both environmental and worker safety. An unannounced visit to these careless facilities may reveal open containers of resin, storage and work areas that allow fumes to escape to the open air,  workers wearing cheap dust masks instead of respirators, and a general disregard for containing toxic material.  If you are having a boat built by a custom yard, or live near a manufacturing facility for a mass-produced line, take the time to drop in and check the place out. The impressions you get from a half hour physical inspection will be immensely more valuable than any marketing brochure.
If a visit is impossible, some quick questions asked of the manufacturer, in writing, with the replies requested in writing as well, will provide some valuable clues as to how green your prospective shipwright really is. The reason for asking for answers in writing is two-fold.
First, when dealing with potentially toxic substances, manufacturers are usually quite aware of the liability they face if they exaggerate or fabricate their claims. It is all too easy for a good salesman to tell you his boats are made in an environmentally friendly shop. It is another thing all together to have him put it in writing.
The second reason for asking for a written response is that it usually raises the level of awareness among upper management.  Most letters or emails from customers end up on the desk of someone in a position to influence company policy. When a smart business owner gets a dozen requests a month, in writing, from customers inquiring about his company’s environmental practices something good is likely to happen.  
Examples of the type of questions to ask are shown below.

What measure does your company take in the production process to minimize the exposure of your workers and the environment to toxic materials?
 

-A good answer will list specific tools and techniques used.
-A bad answer will lack specifics, sound fluffy but lack substance.

What type of application process do you use when applying the hull’s initial gel coat?

The gel-coat is your boat’s exterior surface that comes in contact with the air or water. Like your body’s skin, gel coat is designed to protect the structural layers beneath.

-A good answer will involve the latest technology being used to make sure the lamination process is done to exacting standards of thickness using low pressure, airless-assist equipment. These systems reduce airborne emissions significantly.
–A bad answer will be that the company relies on traditional, i.e. outdated, completely hand applied techniques where the workers eyeball how much material to apply. This approach usually results in more chemicals being used than necessary and an uneven gel coat thickness.

 What type of lamination process does your facility employ?

Lamination involves laying out the flexible glass fabric and saturating it with resins and hardeners to form your boat’s structural core.

-A good answer will be that the builder uses pressure fed rollers to apply controlled amounts of material to the fabric. Vacuum tools that completely draw the liquids into the glass mesh  also ensure that only those chemicals that are necessary get used.
-A bad answer involves workers applying material with nothing more than fancy paint rollers.

What type of ventilation systems do you use when working with fiberglass compounds?

-A good answer will be that the company uses high speed fans and filtration devices in enclosed work areas to capture toxic fumes and ensure worker safety.
-A bad answer will be that everything is done in a big open area with open doors and windows as the primary means of ventilation.

What type of warranty do you offer on your hulls?

-A good answer is ten years or more. These guys are using the best equipment and can back it up.

-A bad answer is three years or less. Often these guys are hoping that by the time their construction defects become apparent it will be too late for you to come back to them for compensation.
 

This list of questions could go on and on. The general idea is to ask specific questions in search of specific answers. Softballs like “Is your company environmentally friendly?” won’t tell you anything of real value. The polluting boatyard that recycles worker’s soda cans can answer “Yes” to the previous question.
          I don’t mean to hammer on small boat yards that employ traditional techniques. Most of them do exceptional work. Unfortunately, however, the original procedures for working with fiberglass were developed 40 years or so ago, about the same time Big Tobacco was telling us smoking was good for us. As the times have changed, so has the need to use the latest technology when dealing with toxic materials. Today’s forward looking boatyards, whether small or large, need to recognize this fact by employing the newest technologies to minimize the toxins they release. Patronize those who do and avoid those who don’t. 

USED FIBERGLASS BOATS

If you go with a used fiberglass boat most of the environmental impact that went into your boat has already been felt.  Not only will you save a lot of money buying a used fiberglass boat, you can feel good knowing you are not adding any new toxic fumes to the world as well.
Many of the original fiberglass boats are floating fine today with no expiration date in sight. Unless you buy a used boat with a defect in the fiberglass, or unless you hit something, you can usually count on decades of useful service from a glass hull.
 When buying a used fiberglass boat your greatest enemy will be osmotic blistering. Numerous reasons exist for this boat-pox, but in every case it is bad news. Blistering, like the name implies, occurs when bubbles appear in your boat’s gel coat. These bubbles usually break, allowing water to penetrate into your boat’s core. If your boat has a wood or metal core this moisture can be especially deadly, causing rot, rust, and ultimately hull failure, i.e. your boat sinks.
Many boat owners accept blister repair as a necessary evil, and if you wake up one day with the problem you must fix it. For the prospective buyer, however, the best boat deal in the world is a bad deal if it involves blisters. These little demons have an evil habit of reforming every few years, forcing the responsible boater to keep sanding down gel coat and applying sealants and epoxies to try and heal the hull. Every time this process is performed fiberglass dust, and an assortment of bad stuff gets released in even the most careful facilities.
Keep life simple, if the boat you are thinking of buying has blisters, or if the surveyor thinks it’s only a matter of time, find yourself another boat.

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT FIBERGLASS

Once you get past the trouble of making a fiberglass boat and conducting major repairs, the ongoing maintenance can be done with some of the greenest materials available.
We will cover this in depth later, but compared to metal, or wood, fiberglass is the easiest hull material to maintain by far. If you take the big picture view of what it costs the environment to responsibly construct and maintain a fiberglass boat over twenty years or so I believe you would find the impact to be less than that produced by either wood or metal craft.

METAL BOATS

 NEW METAL BOATS

Serious offshore sailors and hardcore fisherman often prefer metal boats to other hull options. If you end up grounded on a distant coral reef there  is nothing better than a thick piece of steel between you and the rocks. Boaters who plan on chasing fish through the shallows, or running their boats up on the beach for a barbecue will appreciate a metal hull that can handle stumps, rocks, and other obstacles that might crack a fiberglass or wood boat.
Metal boats are usually made from either steel or aluminum.

STEEL BOATS

Steel is the stronger than aluminum, but it is a maintenance nightmare, especially in salt water. Sooner or later a steel hull will begin to oxidize, or rust. Once this cycle begins it will be an ongoing fact of your boating life.
Paints and coatings exist which can slow the rust cycle, and we will cover them later, but the simple fact is a steel boat will require a lifelong commitment of time, work, and chemicals to keep it from sinking. Priming, painting, grinding and sanding your boat’s exterior will be a part of your life, or at least an expense you will pay for if you choose steel.
 On top of everything you must do to fight rust on the outside of a steel vessel, the interior of most steel boats  is usually treated with some pretty nasty anti-corrosive coatings. The resulting vapors that will be off-gassing into your boat’s cabin do not belong in the human body.

ALUMINUM BOATS

Aluminum, on the other hand is considered by many to be an ideal material for boat building. Unlike steel, aluminum does not usually corrode when exposed to salt water alone. All metals, however, including aluminum, can fall prey to corrosion caused by electrolysis. The essence of this problem is that under the right conditions, any metal can decompose if electrical currents from your boat, marina, or a stray power supply react with the metal in your boat and the water surrounding it. Electrolysis is particularly aggressive in salt water, but it can eat a freshwater boat too if conditions are right. Plenty of great work has been written on how to avoid, or at least minimize the effects of electrolysis. Get your hands on some of this info and take it to heart.

Aluminum is lightweight, strong, and flexible; all great qualities for a boat. Numerous tales have been told of aluminum boats surviving for days aground under circumstances that would have devoured most boats.

Aluminum needs very little maintenance. In fact, many aluminum boats are not painted at all above the waterline because the aluminum looks great unfinished and paint would require more maintenance than leaving the surface unfinished.
 The bad thing about aluminum boats is the damage caused by the creation of the alloy itself. Assembling the vessel itself is not the real problem from an environmental perspective, but the process of actually making aluminum is one of the most energy intensive procedures known to man. In addition to requiring an enormous amount of electrical power to make this stuff, the main component of aluminum, bauxite, must be dug out of the ground. Some of the Mother Earth’s worst scars have been inflicted by bauxite miners.
 In the Pacific Northwest alone, the aluminum industry consumes about one fifth of all the power generated by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). In addition to operating a nuclear power plant, BPA generates hydroelectric power from almost 30 massive dams that collectively have decimated the population of salmon and other aquatic life.

If you want to compare the impact of aluminum production vs. steel you might be able to argue that steel production does not produce quite the side effects of its lighter weight cousin, but it is a pretty hollow argument in my book. Take a tour through the Pennsylvania countryside if you need confirmation.
Prospective green boat buyers who do not want to support these industries should keep such issues in mind when considering a metal boat.

NEW METAL BOATS VS. USED

The same issues we discussed about new vs. used fiberglass carry over to metal boats.
If you are must have a new metal boat, either steel or aluminum, ask the hard questions, in writing.
If you go with a used model you are making a much smaller impact than buying new, but beware of the maintenance nightmare you are unleashing.

WOODEN BOATS

Wooden boats are in a class all by themselves. Who can resist the appeal of these traditional craft? The alluring glow of the wood, the soft creak as you walk the decks, and the obvious pride most wooden boat owners have for their vessels  make it easy to want to join the club.
At first glance wood would seem to be an ideal material for boat construction, and in fact for most of history it has been the obvious choice. Wood can be sustainably harvested, it is fairly easy to work with, and several varieties are particularly suited to marine work. Unfortunately, the benefits of using wood come to an end once a new vessel hits the water. I write this next section knowing full well it will incur the wrath of the wooden boat purists.
 The beauty and charm of a nice wooden boat has lured many an unsuspecting victim into buying these maintenance monsters. Wood and water do not mix, plain and simple.  It is ironic that the creation of such a remarkable substance as wood is absolutely dependant on water, while water, can get along quite nicely without wood. Once you put the two together, in constant contact, however the end is inevitable, water will win the battle every time.  The only way you can keep a wooden boat afloat is with perpetual maintenance and an active checkbook.
With the same appetite that She has for steel, Mother Nature is literally eating your wooden boat every day it is in the water. In temperate climates this destruction is caused primarily by the constant attack of fungi and bacteria. Left untreated, almost any wood exposed to water will be destroyed by these unseen invaders. In tropical climates, these beasties’ big brothers –  barnacles, bugs, and borers, will finish off an untreated boat much faster.
Through the centuries, boaters have devised various means to prevent this destruction, but in almost every case the treatment is not at all green. Heavy metal shields, chemical treatments, varnish, and toxic paint are just a few of the tools used to combat the wooden boat destroyers. Several exotic wood species show remarkable resistance to marine pests, Ironwood, Teak, and Mahogany to name a few. The endangered status of these remarkable trees is a sad testament to how little value previous and present generations have assigned to them.
If you are seduced by the allure of a wooden boat, good luck to you. There is currently no inexpensive, effective, green way to maintain these vessels unless you are willing to devote your life to them. About the only hope you have of maintaining a wooden boat in an environmentally friendly manner is if it is small enough to routinely remove it from the water. Obvious examples are wood canoes and rowboats that live out their years upside down on blocks or in a boathouse.  
Small inboard and outboard vessels can be hauled out with electric boat lifts you can install right on your dock. Expect to spend at least a few thousand dollars for a good lift, and then plan on maintaining it through the years. If you do go this route be very careful with the wiring. It should go without saying that electricity and water don’t mix. As obvious as this wisdom is, tragic examples abound of people, especially children, getting electrocuted because a fitting shook loose and wires hit the water. I don’t mean to discourage those of you looking to keep your boat out of the water, just realize it will require time, maintenance, and money.
 For big wooden sailboats and cruisers, however, the picture is grim. Unless money is no object and you are willing to haul your boat out of the water each season to perform expensive friendly maintenance you should avoid a wooden boat. The sad reality for most green boaters is that without a constant regimen of applying something toxic to prevent your boat from being devoured, the most you can hope for is a few years of enjoyment followed by the slow death of your dream.
Recent advancements in non-toxic epoxy coatings show some promise in helping to preserve these classic treasures. It is my sincere hope that future editions of this blog will be rewritten with a new section on eco-friendly solutions to the age old death rot that claims so many wooden boats. As I Type these words, however, there are not any widely available options that I can endorse.

 NEW WOOD BOATS vs USED

See the previous comments on metal and fiberglass for the gist of what type of environmental impact you can expect when asking the new vs used question about wooden boats.

If by some miracle you have a few thousand board feet of cured teak, oak, mahogany, ironwood, or something similar that grandpa left you out in the barn, I can’t think of a better use for this treasure than turning it into a boat if your heart is set on  a wooden craft.

If, on the other hand, you plan to be the agent of destruction for an endangered species of tree just so you can have a shiny new toy, well, that’s an easy one.

Choosing The Right Boat – Hull Materials & Used vs New