# PT BOATS



## reelfunnm (Dec 1, 2017)

I got to watching some videos on PT boats. I was amazed at how much wood was used in these boats. But more so that there are not many around anymore. What a great history behind the boats. Here is one of the videos I watched. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNmB-1wq5n4


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## Crazyboat (Dec 1, 2017)

My dad served on one for a short time in WWII, he didn't speak much about the war, but did speak of their exceptional speed but the weakness of the hull. If you were winning a battle it was wonderful, you did not want to be hit while on one. Too much petro and wood makes for a very bad fire!


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## Johnny (Dec 1, 2017)

when my father was in the South Pacific during WWII, he told me of the
horror story of his ordeal - - - - he was in the US Army visiting a makeshift
"pub" operated by the US Navy and they started to party hardy.
the Navy guys invited the Army guys for a "boat ride" around the island.
my father, all of 18 years old and a fearless war seasoned veteran,
got all the way up on the bow where that little round thing is and straddled it.
with a beer in one hand and hanging on to a small rope with the other,
the PT skipper slammed the throttle full forward and the boat lunged up to 
an estimated speed of 40 miles and hour.
after the "ride", my father has hated the Navy ever since (I spent 21 years there LOL).
after his war tour in the Philippines and Okinawa, Japan as a tank commander,
he said that boat ride was the most harrowing and scariest thing he has ever experienced in his life.
for me, I would love to catch a ride just once on one at the helm !!!! gotta be a fun boat.





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## SeaFaring (Dec 1, 2017)

They were basically plywood, but far from the largest (spruce goose) or fastest (deHavilland Mosquito) wood vehicles of the war. 

Given the generally short supply of metals during the war, there was a tremendous premium on systems that could be built without strategic resources. This prompted tremendous development in wood composite materials. 

Another fun factoid: the deHavilland Mosquito and PT boats were powered by the same engines: Rolls Royce Merlins. The PT boat’s were made under license by Packard. 

Another side effect of plywood: if you had repairable battle damage, it was straightforward to fix in the field: just patch, glue, and screw. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## richg99 (Dec 3, 2017)

Back when I was messing about with sailboats, I read that the entire wooden boating industry was upended when fiberglass was first used to make a boat, around 1942. 

The wooden boat builders of the day were not originally too worried. 

But, they found out that their business plan of replacing wooden boats every ten or twenty years, due to rotting wood, was messed up. Fiberglass boats, it seemed, NEVER rotted.


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## LDUBS (Dec 3, 2017)

richg99 said:


> But, they found out that their business plan of replacing wooden boats every ten or twenty years, due to rotting wood, was messed up. Fiberglass boats, it seemed, NEVER rotted.



Yeah, but what about "_polyestermites_"? :shock: (Oh boy, even I have to admit that was bad.)


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## WiskeyJaR (Dec 3, 2017)

> Yeah, but what about "polyestermites"?


Well for the low sum of just 1.25 mill, you can buy an aluminum PT boat, then you won't have to worry about termites _nor_ polyestermites. [-X 

https://www.ablboats.com/74741


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## Stumpalump (Dec 4, 2017)

Nothing has the ride and feel of a wood boat. I worked for Post and since they started with wood boats all the old tools and know how was there. You should see the wood shop. Old timers could still do amazing things with wood and one had a VW bus with all teak interior. I was a hardware installer on glass boats and to this day the only thing I hate more than fiberglass boats are fiberglass boats with mercruiser sterndrives. Who's idea was it to wrap rot prone untreated plywood in plastic resin and glass mat and power it with a short lived sterndrive contraption that keeps the sea out with a rubber boot?

https://www.postyacht.com/about-us/


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