Germany’s Friedrich Deimann, a boatbuilder and engineer who has dedicated the last decade of his life to proving hemp as a viable fibre for building composite boats. The recently launched Flax 27 dayboat is the floating proof of his vision.
He started his career as an apprentice wooden boatbuilder. “I loved the aesthetics, the feeling of wood, but I realised that it would be hard to make a living in this profession because people don’t want to maintain wood,” says Deimann.
“Then I worked on composites. They gave so much freedom with geometry, and you could build so light, but I had a really hard time working with the materials: glassfibre itched my skin, and the resin in the air.”
Deimann decided to take himself back to school, doing a masters in using natural materials and composite technology. His final piece of coursework was the building of a sleek, futuristic looking boat using hemp fibre and bio-based resin.
Full article here: https://boatingnz.co.nz/hemp-boat/
