Cost Comparison for the Installation of Steel Frames vs Wooden Frames on a Traditional Wooden Fishing Boat in South Sulawesi

Traditional wooden fishing boats are still being produced by most of the traditional wooden shipyards in Indonesia specifically in the area of South Sulawesi. Nevertheless, the traditional wooden boat craftsman facing the difficulty of wooden log supply as the main wooden boat material especially for wooden frame construction despite the increasing demand for wooden material for the boat construction. The difficulty to acquire the specific wooden for wooden frame caused by the specific requirements of each wooden frame. They must be in the specific shape according to the specific curvature of each transversal boat section along the boat length. Hence, for the sustainability of wooden boat construction process, alternative material is needed for replacing the certain wooden boat construction component, especially for wooden frames. Fortunately, research relating to the use of alternative material for wooden boat construction have been conducted. The focus of the research is on the use of steel frame to replace the wooden frame on the wooden boat construction. This paper discusses the cost comparison for the fabrication and installation process as well as the material cost of the steel frame to the wooden boat construction with wooden frame to the wooden boat construction. The result shows that the cost for fabricating and installing steel frame is 13% higher to compare to the wooden frame. However, if the total wooden boat construction cost is being considered, the total difference is only 3%.