: Benefits of wood in boatbuilding:
: 1. Readily available.
: 2. Relatively inexpensive
: 3. Easily tooled.
: 4. Mistakes are generally easy to fix.
: 5. BEAUTY, in a classic way. Very easy to customize.
: 6. Plans are readily available.
: 7. Relatively short time from plans to beginning of build. (Short
: setup time.)

: Benefits of CF in boatbuilding:
: 1. COOL FACTOR
: 2. Strength-to-weight ratio is good when done correctly.
: 3. Beauty, in a modern way.

: Downsides to CF in boatbuilding:
: 1. Cost: CF more expensive than wood per foot. Vacuum bagging
: pumps, hoses, peelply, breather layers, etc could add cost also.
: 2. Setup time (molds, vacuum bagging setup). Takes longer from
: planning to actual building.
: 3. Mistakes in the final product are relatively harder to fix.
: 4. Comes in any color you want, as long as you want black. :-)
: 5. (Final product might be somewhat more fragile than wood?) (My
: experience with Kevlar canoes says "eh, not so much.")

: The normal disclaimer applies: this is my opinion only, based on my
: experience & available tooling. Others with different
: experience probably have a different list.

: Good luck!

: -Greg H
: St. Paul, MN

There really isn't a direct comparison of the two materials, they arn't used the same way.

Bill H.