Besides for that galvanized or stainless standing rigging connected to a steel hull makes for a much stiffer rig for going to windward if you need to go that direction.
The original Captain’s Courageous with Spencer Tracy is good. The remake with Karl Malden in the 70’s was not so good.
I’m not seeing any “tree nails” which are generally called “trunnels.” North of the border they are made out of locust with pine wedges.
Other than the bolts in the flitches of the sawn frames, instead of “tree nails” (probably not a major sin), it looks to me like she is being well built.
Back in the days of sail vessels were not expected to survive the perils of the sea for more than about 10 years.
I forget the name, but one of the oldest wooden sailing vessels still intact is a British Naval vessel built in India more or less around 1700.
I can’t think of which one that would be. Here’s a list:
I saw the HMS Victory back in '97, a thoroughly impressive bit of engineering that drives home the level of refinement in these vessels:
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As for moving cargo by sail, I see it working out with high value niche cargoes that can be sold at a premium due to the method of transportation, as pointed out elsewhere in this thread. I came across an article about someone moving cocoa and coffee from the Caribbean isles to NYC a while ago, but no word on how it went in the end, and now I can’t find it back.
This seems to be a mix of several things, not just business. If I were going to make money from a sailboat, I surely wouldn’t start with a very labor intensive to build and maintain hull. There are two schooners that sail out of Annapolis made from cold-molded wood, i.e wood strips saturated with epoxy, with modern rigs and foils. They are wicked fast compared to traditional schooner and vastly lower maintenance than traditional wood construction. Speaking which, the owners of the Constellation got tired of all the work to keep that ship floating and epoxied an out layer of wood onto the ship. She still looks original from the inside.
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A friend I sailed with owned the Victory Chimes until a few years ago. It has to be laid up under cover for months every winter for maintenance and CG inspections. Sailing wood hulls is a labor of love.
aka Jingle Bells…
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Re: Metal bolts in the photo. It looks as if the metal bolts are temporary clamps and being replaced with “tree nails” as the adhesives are set, as seen on the next rib over. Similar to the temporary clamp at the scarf joint. I hope the companion lamination in the rib pictured has the scarf offset 
It was the poor quality of Chinese galvanised fastenings that resulted in a requirement that stainless steel fasteners be used in the sub floor of new build houses in New Zealand.
I’m learning a lot about wooden boat construction techniques by reading this column. Adding to my sure-fire repertoire of pick-up lines for chicks in bars. “Hey baby, you got a scarf joint needs a trunnel?”
Upon further inspection of the photos, I see a combination of bolts and wooden trunnels.
That’s \not adhesive “gluing” the flitches together. At least I’ve never seen adhesive used. The flitches are normally bedded at the joints in a preservative “grease,” tar, or bedding compound to keep water, dirt, etc. from accumulating in the joints.
Of course the joints in the flitches are offset or staggered. That’s why sawn frames are always built up as double frames, so that the joints between the flitches can be staggered. Otherwise they wouldn’t have any strength.
The structure is usually a double envelope sandwich system with planking on the outside of the frames, and ceiling (interior planking) on the inside of the frames. There will also be built up athwartships “floor timbers” and built up longitudinal “clamps”, plus “knees” that attach the deck beams to the frames.
No kidding. Trunnels? Skarf joints? Flitches? All sounds so much more sophisticated than butt-welding shell plates (I’m sure there’s a joke there somewhere too)
I always wanted to enroll in a course at IYRS when I lived in RI. They have a nice facility on the water where they painstakingly disassemble and restore old wooden vessels, including a schooner built in 1885. I see they have/had some students involved in the Ceiba build.
I’m not getting into the discussion of how good or bad this project is, or how much they know about boat building. (Or the type of bolts, temporary or permanent, that is seen in some pictures from the building site)
All I’ll say is that wooden boat building skills are still in existence and COULD be hired to help build this vessel. It is NOT a dead trade everywhere.
In Selatpanjang, a mainly Chinese town in Riau Province, there are still thriving yards building fairly large wooden cargo boats:
In South Sulawesi and in Wara, Sumba they have found a market building Yachts to traditional design:
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looks like a dead humpback filled with gas and about to explode killing every Bugis within a half a klick
btw, I am very happy to hear that Selatpanjang is “manly” because every place I run across these days seems to be filled with nothing but girlie men
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nyet…first how to you remove the bolt and then drive in the trunnel after all the frames are in place? at best there will be a foot of gap between frames so no way you can swing a maul down there at all…plus why not just drive trunnels from the get-go before lifting them into place?
sloppy workmanship in my book
Da, it’s what they’re doing. It’s all-thread. Teach the young ones how to wield a wrench with a double-nut for counter-hold. Draw or thread the all-thread out instead of taking a mighty swing with a sledge. The new rib is just lying in place, so access is not lost. The “tree nails” in the adjacent rib are driven from this side. No “tree nails” in the new rib, yet.
I found this tidbit tonight on their website…a gift which just keeps on giving
Two Cargo Hatches
The design of the Ceiba Line vessels boasts two cargo hatches to access the holds, which can be used simultaneously. This increases flexibility and storage options when loading and unloading cargo.
are these people really such naive simpletons?
I see a new frame being lifted into place without these “clamps” having been removed and replaced by treenails in the frame immediately behind it! And I do not see this double nut you speak of while endlessly apologizing for this bunch of halfwits. Next you will tell us this is just a pretend photo they took just to illustrate their website and not real construction.
Personally, I do not even believe the wood they are building this ship out of has been seasoned for even a weekend before it is going into the hull.
I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I was either apologizing for their efforts or attempting to support them. I am merely pointing out that there appears to be methods that can be employed to accomplish the objective of fastening with wood, and, that those methods seem to me to be in progress. Double nutting to achieve purchase was a suggestion I made to illustrate how the all thread can be removed after it has fulfilled the purpose of clamping as opposed to the obvious caveman method.
Personally, I wish them well in their efforts to launch a vessel destined to be teredo worm bait.
“…our lumber for the keel came from six Tamarindo trees that came down during Hurricane Otto in November 2016”
Personally, it seems you take pride in what you, for some reason, hope is the impending failure of others.
I prefer to wish them well, for no other reason than why not.