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Preventing Rot ??
That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Or is it nothing to worry about? Gary |
Preventing Rot ??
I believe this process is still called caulking.
In article , "Doug Kanter" wrote: I'm remembering that when my dad had his Luhrs, way back when, we scraped the wood bottom each year, stuck some sort of cotton-like stuff into some of the seams, and painted. Have you done a job on the hull that approximates these steps? |
Preventing Rot ??
Gary Warner wrote:
So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? TIMBOR Or is it nothing to worry about? It will continue to rot quite nicely whether you worry or not if you do nothing to eliminate the water. Rick |
Preventing Rot ??
"Gary Warner" wrote in message ... That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Or is it nothing to worry about? Gary I'm remembering that when my dad had his Luhrs, way back when, we scraped the wood bottom each year, stuck some sort of cotton-like stuff into some of the seams, and painted. Have you done a job on the hull that approximates these steps? |
Preventing Rot ??
In article , says...
That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Gary, There was a good discussion of this by a retired chemical engineer named Dave Carnell. Unfortunately his page is gone, and I'm worried about Dave too, as I haven't heard from him since I built a tool for him after he had a stroke. I have a copy of the cached copy of his page he http://terryking.us/public/boats/RotEthyleneGlycol.html and a couple of equivalent text files he http://terryking.us/public/boats I have used Ethylene Glycol on my 25 year old homemade inboard cuddy cabin boat for the last 7 or 8 years, arresting some rot in several places. Every winter layup I spray Glycol along the almost-dry inside keel, on the lower frames, and on a couple of slightly-soft plywood panels. I have added a new transom of 3/4" Pressure-treated plywood with epoxy/glass over it. But the original transom is spongy to realy deteriorated in several places. Every layup I pump Ethylene Glycol into about 100 1/4" holes drilled into the inner old transom. It has had no progression of rot, and no more "obvious rot fungus growth" like it had before. Ethylene Glycol is one of the few things that can stop rot in wood that is wet. I hope to keep the old girl running another 25 years... It Ain't Elegant. But it works, by gosh... (Please read Dave's article before you bombard me with toxicity warnings and turn me in to the EPA. I used to use PentaChlor (AKA PCP) which was a lot worse :-) -- Regards, Terry King ...In The Woods In Vermont "The one who dies with the most parts LOSES! What do you need??" |
Preventing Rot ?? (Found current Dave Carnell page!)
Very Happy to say I was pointed to a current Dave Carnell site at:
http://www.angelfire.com/nc3/davecarnell/ All the info is there. -- Regards, Terry King ...In The Woods In Vermont "The one who dies with the most parts LOSES! What do you need??" |
Preventing Rot ??
"Gary Warner" ) writes:
So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? salt boxes in bilges is an old preventative I've read about. don't know how well it works. it'll do not harm. rot works faster in fresh water for sure. if the boat were not leaking you could tar the inside to keep the water out of the wood, but this water is comming from the outside and is probably getting into the wood already. Or is it nothing to worry about? you can let it go and plan to cut out and replace the bad wood some time in the future. eventually trot will make he wood weak enough to lose its shape and the bottom of the boat will flatten. lapstrake boats get their strength from the overlapped planks more than other boats with bigger frames. you may have seen older discarded lapstrake boats hauled up on shore with their bottoms caved in. time will do it. I doubt the rot is an immediate concern, but something you can research and look into. Wooden boats don't last forever, despite what your read about 100 year old vessels. Those old boats had to be refurbihsed and refitted every few years, all the rotten wood cut out and new wood put in. Very little of those historic wooden boats is original wood. In fact there's a rule that if you replace all the wood in an old boat it's a new boat, but if you leave a teenly little bit of oiginal wood in it then it's the same boat. :) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
Preventing Rot ??
Yeah, but I don't know if, for wooden boats, you still use wadding, or
something from a tube. "Bob D." wrote in message ... I believe this process is still called caulking. In article , "Doug Kanter" wrote: I'm remembering that when my dad had his Luhrs, way back when, we scraped the wood bottom each year, stuck some sort of cotton-like stuff into some of the seams, and painted. Have you done a job on the hull that approximates these steps? |
Preventing Rot ??
On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 13:32:03 -0400, "Gary Warner"
wrote: Dry it out and paint it with Epidure, that will prevent the rot and harden the wood. That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Or is it nothing to worry about? Gary |
Preventing Rot ??
Gary Warner wrote:
That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. What?!? You haven't fixed that leak yet?? ... But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. Yes. But IMHO rain and humidity is a bigger threat. Are you keeping the boat inside? If yes, and the ventialtion is pretty good, then you have little to worry about. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Yes, a mild boric acid solution. Salt plugs were the traditional anti-rot treatment and they had limited success. Actually I just checked the link to Dave Carnell's web site and (as usual) there is a lot of good useful info. http://www.angelfire.com/nc3/davecarnell/rot.html He says glycol is better, and I believe him... it's also more of a health & enviro hazard. Your call... Fair Skies Doug |
Preventing Rot ??
System Three has a rot-fix compound that you inject into the rotted
area. Not sure how it would look with a natural wood finish boat though. -- Matt Langenfeld JEM Watercraft http://www.jemwatercraft.com Gary Warner wrote: That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Or is it nothing to worry about? Gary -- Matt Langenfeld JEM Watercraft http://jem.e-boat.net/ |
Preventing Rot ??
Thanks everyone for the ideas - keep 'em coming if you have more. To respond to a few posts all at once and clarify a few things: -- I will be attempting to fix the leak but not until end of season (Mid October?) -- This is a plywood, not planked hull, so there are no "seems" to be calked. Except possibly where the last plank meats the keel. This is what I will check out in the fall. -- We did scrape all old paint of the bottom and repaint. -- The boat is stored under a tarp in summer & inside in winter. -- My thinking is that even if stored in a dry place, it takes days for the bilge to completely dry. And by then it's the next weekend and we get it all wet again. So it's in a perpetual state of dampness...which could lead to rot. -- There is no current rot (that I know of) because we fixed all that during our just completed renovation. Gary |
Preventing Rot ?? (Found current Dave Carnell page!)
"Terry King" wrote in message .. . Very Happy to say I was pointed to a current Dave Carnell site at: http://www.angelfire.com/nc3/davecarnell/ All the info is there. -- Regards, Terry King ...In The Woods In Vermont "The one who dies with the most parts LOSES! What do you need??" Glad this thread helped you find / find out about Dave as well as helping me. |
Preventing Rot ??
I have read anti freeze painted on and allowed soak in well kills rot and preserves have also read fresh water is far worse for rotting.timber. ///////////////// "Matt Langenfeld" wrote in message ink.net... System Three has a rot-fix compound that you inject into the rotted area. Not sure how it would look with a natural wood finish boat though. -- Matt Langenfeld JEM Watercraft http://www.jemwatercraft.com Gary Warner wrote: That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Or is it nothing to worry about? Gary -- Matt Langenfeld JEM Watercraft http://jem.e-boat.net/ |
Preventing Rot ??
Most definetly, use the rock salt, works great and preserves the wood.
"Gary Warner" wrote in message ... That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Or is it nothing to worry about? Gary |
Preventing Rot ??
Ventilate the boat so it dries out fast between uses. Arrange the tarp so it's open at the ends like a tent and plenty of air can blow through. When putting my mahogony strip sailboat away for teh winter I made a ridge pole out of 2x4's and draped the tarps over that (photos on my website). Lift any hatches or floorboards. I painted half of a small plywood boat with leftover engine antifreeze (the ethelyne(?) glycol Dave Carnell writes about) and let it dry before putting on the latex paint (exterior) and linseed oil (interior) but have noticed no difference between the two ends. Both have turned equally dark over the 3 years I've had the boat (Delta on my website). Like salt, if it does no good it will do no harm. Use both. They don't smell or anything. The strategy on my plywood boats is to patch leaks with resin to keep water out of the wood. If its a small leak resin will do. There won't be much flex. You can always screw a wooden patch to the hull. If you have 3 feet of leaking seam along the bottom (garboard) plank perhaps a narrow strip of wood trim from the harware store could be set in caulk or glue and screwed on. (Taper the ends.) It would stop the leak and keep water out of the wood. You'll have to decide about appearances. OTOH such a patch could go on the inside but all that would do is keep water out of the bilges, not out of the plywood. At the same time the leak could be sealed on the outside with resin to keep the water out of the plywood so it doesn't rot. You'll also have to decide if you want a permanent patch (glue) or one you can remove in the future (caulk) if the bottom plank is to be replaced. Decisions, decisions, always decisions. Last year I had to put a patch on the outside of one of my small plywood boats where the screws holding on the daggerboard trunk pulled through the face ply due to the stress put on the trunk. Photos on my website under Boats, Dogskiff, scroll down to the sailing rig section. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
Preventing Rot ??
A permanent repiar on this boat may not be a big job. It depends on the type of keel. If you're in luck it's a plank keel. They put them on plywood boats to cover and seal the exposed end grain on the plywood. If so all you have to do is sand the finish off the plank keel and see what kind of fasteners were used. If screws you probaly just have to dig up the heads, unscrew them, and lift the plank keel to expose the ends of the bottom plywood planks. Then it would be just a matter of cleaning off the old caulking, repairing any decay in the edges of the plywood, and recaulking, reattaching, and repainting the plank keel. Not out of the reach of a backyard boat repair for someone with time on his hands. Not an expensive repair to have done. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
Preventing Rot ??
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Preventing Rot ??
Great posts William. Thanks. |
Preventing Rot ??
On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 13:32:03 -0400, "Gary Warner"
wrote: That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958 Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull her out all the water dries up. But that wood remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood and they thrive when there is dampness but also oxygen. So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that I can put in the bilge water while running that will curtail these criters & their rot while not harming the wood or making a mess? Or is it nothing to worry about? Gary Gary, First, congratulations on getting your boat in the water. I'm sure it was a lot of work. In regards to your problem--- It is not a problem. It would be better were the boat not to leak at all and had spiders in the bilge. However, most wooden boats will have water in the bilge.Typically these leaks come from many tiny leaks. Planing hulls, like yours, are flat aft. Two gallons of water in the bilge will spread widely. I would not spend too much time worrying about rot resulting from dampness. After all, the outside of the hull gets wet as well. I did a major restoration on a Chris Sea Skiff several years ago.It had a small amount of water in the bilge. When the boat was put back in service in the spring I would paint out the transom framing with copper napthanate. If you are worried, you could do the same. |
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