Stefan Topolski wrote:

How much is a wooden boat allowed to leak (plank on frame) and be
considered normal or healthy?

The old Viking saying (from somewhere in the Islandic Sagas) says that if a
boat has to be emptied only twice in three days, it is safe to take to the
sea. I suppose that included rain water, as they were open boats...

We just launched an old 8-meter boat, been on the dry all winter. At launch
we quickly installed an electric pump, and it was busy. We moved her to a
place with good electricity, and had to wait to see if the pump switch
would go on and off as it should. The next day we sailed her a home, a few
miles. And pumped her empty. The next week one of us went to check her
twice a day, and occasionally pump her empty. The week after, there was no
problem. Now (a month later) there is only a small pump running from the
battery. When we are out sailing, and she tilts a lot (as such boats do),
the pump runs 10 seconds twice an hour, emptying no more than a liter or
so. More if it has been raining...

-H