using bamboo in the boat

[sailor ja]

The "Storage in the V-Berth" Thread struck my interest in slatting system that he had in his boat and it got me thinking. I have dried out a lot of large bamboo over the past year. The house I used to live in had Bamboo everywhere but the landlord always had the man tending to the yard cut it down. Instead of letting the city haul it away from the alley, I snagged it all up, trapped it on my trailer and hauled it too my storage space.

anyways I was thinking of cutting the bamboo to length to fit various area's of the boat for seating and sleeping then splitting it down the middle to create two pieces out of one then tying them all together like the slats we saw in the thread. Yay? Nay?

Bamboo is certainly a strong wood, but I have not seen anyone really using it in their boats (in the states at least). I have a lot of this stuff so I might as well use it.

[2BonC]

Bamboo is used as flooring all over in my . To fit correctly I have cut the pieces from a custom made carpet for a bathroom floor .
The material is consisting of a thin layer of rubber fabric with sliced (half) parts of bamboo glewed and at the edges sewn to the rubber layer. As the whole thing is absolutely flat I assume that the bamboo has been pressed flat before it was attached to the rubber.
I daubt that one can do that by hisown.
If You can get it I can absolutely recommand this material for this purpose. It´s easy to be taken out to clean it, it´s resistant against water, it looks good like wood and last but not least it feels warm if You walk on it bare footed, havea look. The only disadvantage is that from time to time one of the bamboo stripes gets loose. However in this case I just use some drop of Pattex to fix it at the rubber again.

Rainer

[sailor ja]

Rainer you definitely has a great looking boat! I am envious . I wish I could buy a 26x instead of having to save of for a house. I tried to talk my wife into buying a MAC 65 instead of a house and just live on it, but that didn't go over well. do you have a website with all of your boat photo's?

I am going to try building a slat system much like you have out of the bamboo I have. Hopefully it will work well.

[socalmacer]

Look's great. I was just wondering how slippery it was and how well it does it does getting wet? I'm in So Cal where swimming and scuba diving are usually part of the sailing fun....

[2BonC]

sailor ja, sorry I don´t have a web-page yet however I will create one during this winter. When it´s done I will give a notice in the pages. I like Your idea about the MG69, did You think about living there without Your wife? . Sorry, think this is not a good idea either . I wish You good success in building the slat system, please keep us informed.

Look's great. I was just wondering how slippery it was and how well it does it does getting wet? I'm in So Cal where swimming and scuba diving are usually part of the sailing fun....

I did not notice the material to be slippery, actually it seems to be quite absorptive. Water spilled over can easyly be dried by a towl.
Also it is used inside the cabin only, I don´t think that You go in there with all Your wet scuba equipment.
However I have to mention that the rubbermaterial disintregates a little bit at the surface if it is exposured to salt water for a longer period of time resulting in glewing to the floor of the boat. . In this case You might disturb the carpets rubbersurface a little bit when removing it.
Rainer

[delevi]

Rainer,

Absolutely fantastic! Love it. What a nice job.