RALPH STANLEY: “Takes a lot of skill to work with wood, to build a boat out of wood. Those skills are something that have been acquired over thousands of years and passed on to people. And, if somebody doesnt keep on building out of wood, it will be lost.”

Stanley is retired from boat-building. But he worries that many builders are using materials like fiberglass to make copies of the boats hull, or body of a boat.

RALPH STANLEY: “Fiberglass came along and I thought about going into fiberglass. But if I did, I would have to have a mold and I could never change that mold. And every boat Ive built I see something I would like to change on the next one.”

Stanleys son Richard also builds boats. Richard Stanley says wood is able to take up the full energy of shocks. He says fiberglass is thicker and beats back the shocks.

Kerri Russell is head of Maine-Built Boats. The group provides support for the states boat building industry. She says many boat-builders have good reasons for using use fiberglass.

Russell worked for a company that makes boats with fiberglass. She says it strengthened the hulls, weighed less than wood, and required fewer repairs.

CUYLER MORRIS: “This boat sails away for three hundred eighty-five thousand dollars.”

Cuyler Morris is head of Morris Yachts, an award-winning builder of sail boats. Those boats sell for up to one million four hundred thousand dollars.

Morris says his company is always looking for the best materials and using them with the best design. He says usefulness is an important quality. Morris father started the company thirty-eight years ago. Morris Yachts now uses electrically-operated parts instead of hand-powered ones.

CUYLER MORRIS: “There are all sorts of things that have made boating easier, like this little jiffy sail cover here.”

A machine-powered sail cover protects the sail until it is needed.

Morris says the device is better than hand-powered winches. A winch is the name of a device used to open and close the sail. Kerri Russell says many boats are equipped with new technology because boat-builders want to increase sales among busy families.

Russell says technology is helpful for people who might not have time for traditional boats.

Cuyler Morris says something is special about boats built in Maine. He says Maine is all about quality — whether you want a small wooden rowboat or a super sailing yacht. People just do it the right way.

The recession has deeply affected Maines boat industry. But Morris is hopeful about the future.

CUYLER MORRIS: “Seventy-two percent of the world is covered with water. People are always going to boat. There is always going to be a demand for boats built in Maine because of quality, so Im really optimistic.”

The future is less clear for builders of wooden boats. Ralph Stanley now spends a lot of his time playing a fiddle made from the wood he long used to build boats. I’m Shirley Griffith.

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Today we bring you a new take on an old tale. It’s the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf that blew down one house made of straw and one made of sticks. The only house left standing was the one made of bricks. Now there is new evidence to suggest that houses built with bales of straw can be very strong. They are also environmentally friendly.

Pete Walker is a professor at the University of Bath in Britain. He and a team of researchers there have built a house made out of straw bale and hemp material.

During the next twelve months the team will study the effectiveness of these materials in home building. Professor Walker says there are many good reasons for using straw.

He says it is a renewable material that is readily available and does not cost much money. Professor Walker says straw takes in carbon dioxide as it grows. So it has no harmful effects on the environment. He says straw helps the environment in other ways. The straw bale walls are thick so the buildings require very little heating in the winter or very little cooling in the summer. The buildings require very little additional energy. Professor Walker says this reduces home operating costs. It also reduces the effect on the environment. He says the current interest in straw bale houses is a direct response to the problem of climate change.

David Lanfear owns an eco-friendly home building service in the United States called Bale on Bale Construction. He says he laughed when some friends first told him about houses built of straw.

But after doing his own research, he learned that building with straw bales makes a lot of sense. He has now helped to build more than ten straw bale houses and says the building material is becoming more widely accepted. To build the houses, he fills a wood frame with tightly packed bales of straw. Next he coats the walls inside and out with layers of clay plaster. He says the common ideas about straw houses continue, including stories about the threat of fire.

Mister Lanfear says straw bale houses have done well when tested for fire resistance. And he says his builders use the same methods as traditional builders to keep out rain. He says: “We use what we call good shoes and a good hat, and that would be a solid foundation and a really good roof.”

And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com.

(Adapted from a radio program broadcast 05Oct2009)

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