BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

(Gerdjan) writes:

To keep it that way I have to do something with the rotten wood. I
think when I can stop the process of rot, I can try to get the boat
dryer and then I can try to improve the old wood structure with an
impregnating epoxy or polyurethane product.

It doesn't go that way, and here is the place you are getting the whole
process wrong. A chemical approach is not an answer to exessive rot. The
key is to stop the leaks. Stop the leaks by fixing the deck, changing
wood, patching the cracks in concrete etc. After _that_ you might be able
to use a chemical product or another, but if you don't stop the leaks
nothing will change by pouring some glycol, epoxy or other goop to the
bilge and hoping for the best.

If you had only a small spot of rot here and there you might survive with
just slopping on some epoxy, but now you are risking the whole structural
strength of the hull.

The only long-term solution is to change the rotten wood. There are no
miracle products which would stop the rot and make the wood new. There are
only products which may slow the rot down and restore some of the
strength, but that's not enough.

And fix the leaks. What you are doing now is just like having a house with
a leaky roof. Fussing around with chemicals without fixing the leaks is
just as stupid as trying to fix the damages of a leaky roof by putting on
new wallpapers to the walls.

Think about that for a while.

Pekka

--
http://www.puuvene.net/