Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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New Pirate Ships for all

Replica 16th-18th century sailing ships with faux wood hulls
  (+10, -3)
(+10, -3)
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against]

I was looking at plastic pirate ships in the toy aisle, and thinking that I've always wanted my own pirate ship...I had the thought that all (or very nearly all) sailboats these days are made from extremely boring white smooth fiberglass. Now, while there's nothing wrong with a smooth, white-skinned lassie, (especially one with a few freckles dotting the map) a proper ship should at least look hewn from timber...So, the S.S. Cloudface would have molded fiberglass hull that looks like wood: the "Master & Commander" style ship. I guess below the waterline the resemblance would fade to black, but a captain's cabin with a Golden Hind-style window...that's my idea of a proper ship, although I suspect most of the picturesque, labor-intensive rigging would have to go.
cloudface, Dec 06 2004

Yarr, me hearties http://www.thomasscott.net/yarr/talk.html
[moomintroll, Dec 06 2004]

(?) STS Tenacious http://www.jst.org.....php?pages=page1041
Largest wooden ship built in UK in last 100 years. [oneoffdave, Dec 07 2004]

[link]






       nothing new in this.
etherman, Dec 06 2004
  

       I'd want the square rigged sails to be all torn and full of holes. Also, big dry ice fog generators.
bristolz, Dec 06 2004
  

       Cannons. Don't forget the cannons.
Shz, Dec 06 2004
  

       I concur with [etherman].
contracts, Dec 06 2004
  

       Can you get your face painted yellow? Therefore allowing a break between the raping and pillaging to declare to anyone that's interested that you have scurvy.
britboy, Dec 06 2004
  

       I'm actually looking out the window of my mates office at a fibre glass version of a clinker built design... painted brown. Ok it's not a caravelle but its trying to be wooden and aint. so in my book... baked.
etherman, Dec 06 2004
  

       I'll crew, if there are monkeys.
DocBrown, Dec 06 2004
  

       Brown painted plastic?! Ew.   

       Apart from that, yay! me hearties. Shame 19th Sept has gone...
moomintroll, Dec 06 2004
  

       fake wood - blegh!   

       brings up images of riding in a 1980's Chevy station wagon with fake wood paneled sides. Thar's a boat, if there ever was one.
sophocles, Dec 06 2004
  

       Does it come with a fake sword and plastic eye patch?
macncheesy, Dec 06 2004
  

       Yes it does.
cloudface, Dec 07 2004
  

       Argh, no. Make it from wood. Fake wood is just nasty. I wouldn't have it in my furniture, and definitely not in my yacht.   

       Other than that, definitely. Especially the cannon.
david_scothern, Dec 07 2004
  

       The problem with wooden ships is that they take a lot more work and money to maintain than fibreglass or steel. While faking the wood out of fibreglass would be a bit cheesy, it would avoid constant calls into dry-dock to re-tar, bring the running costs down massively, and it would look ok from a distance. Aye me hearties! Splice the nylon mainbrace and crack open a keg of Archers Peach Schnapps!
wagster, Dec 07 2004
  

       Plastic boats are poo. The float but they look shit.   

       Gimme a leaky timber tub any day. Avast behind!! (no offence)
etherman, Dec 07 2004
  

       If you were going to keep them square-rigged, I suspect that a fibreglass would have serious cost implications as it'd have to be pretty strong to build a ship that size. They make plastic minesweepers but I'm not sure what the upper limit is for the Tupperware(tm) Navy.   

       Just go along the lines of the STS Tenacious and build a modern square rigger out of wood. Her sister ship has a steel hull.
oneoffdave, Dec 07 2004
  

       Steel is the way forward. Right up until the 1960s there was a Norwegian guy running a fleet of steel-hulled square riggers as a commercial cargo fleet. Plus you can crash it into things and it survives a lot better, which if I'm steering is an important consideration.   

       Yarr, me hearties, load the cannons with silverware! I can't be arsed with the washing up.
moomintroll, Dec 07 2004
  

       Hmm... station wagon dressed up like an English Man-of-War. Someone should build it.
RayfordSteele, Dec 08 2004
  

       How 'bout this: Put real wood over the firberglass. +
DesertFox, Dec 10 2004
  

       How about no.
etherman, Dec 10 2004
  

       How about yes! Good call [DF] - looks like wood, but if the wood rots, who cares? This could be baked into an idea of it's own. Oh I forgot, you don't visit the hb any more...
wagster, Dec 10 2004
  

       Wood placed over fiberglass will have all the bad points of having just wood-- you will still need to keep up the wood in order to have a boat that will sail smoothly and look good.
brodie, Dec 10 2004
  

       Well, yes. But it won't leak. Look at it in another way - when you build a wooden boat, why not line the hull with a thin layer of fibreglass as a longlasting seal and strengthener. Won't add much weight or thickness, and you don't really build wooden boats for speed anyway. I know purists won't like this, but it seems to me to have some advantages of both materials.
wagster, Dec 10 2004
  
      
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