My 13' sailboat has a mahogany daggerboard. There is a crack in it, running
about 1/3rd of the length, about 1" from the trailing edge.
It does not affect anything, but I am concerned it will crack further and
break off; so I am hoping to stabilize it to prevent that.

I showed it to a cabinet maker. He suggested routing some slots in it,
perpendicular to the crack, and filling the slots with fiberglass/epoxy.
The slots would have to be pretty small, because there simply isn't much
material to work with so close to the edge. I would then put a layer of
cloth over it to hold it together. (there ought to be enough clearance for
a layer of cloth.)

I have some leftover glass cloth and epoxy from another project, but wonder
about the technique. Would I take some cloth apart and soak the yarn in
epoxy, and then stuff it in the slots?

Any advice would be appreciated.

My 13' sailboat has a mahogany daggerboard. There is a crack in it,
running
about 1/3rd of the length, about 1" from the trailing edge.
It does not affect anything, but I am concerned it will crack further and
break off; so I am hoping to stabilize it to prevent that.

how much does the cracked section move relative to the rest of the wood?
I've stuck oars back together using just superglue before now (still going
strong).

I've had good success with fine cracks with just running epoxy into the
crack, and then very lightly painting epoxy across, you'd be surprised at
how much abuse even a tiny amount of epoxy like that will take on.

If it were my daggerboard I would _be_tempted_ to try running epoxy into the
crack if the seperated section was not flexing a great deal and seeing how
that held up. If it re-cracks then a more aggressive strategy would be in
order (drill through with a FINE drill bit in a few places (more towards the
end) and fill the holes with epoxy perhaps? a bit like spotwelding if you
want an analogy, or what your cabinetmaker suggested).

I would be strongly swayed by what your cabinetmaker suggested, he has a far
better idea of wood and it's treatment than I do and most importantly, has
seen the piece of timber in question.

Another thought I have is that a light, running-epoxy-into-the-gap technique
could well be complemented effectively and as minimally intrusively as
possible by running a little glassfibre tape along the bottom of the dagger
board. This would be far less visually intrusive, would "tie" the two piece
of wood together at their point of greatest leverage and would add
considerably to the abrasion resistance of the timber.

Just a few thoughts.

Al

"Al" wrote in message
...
My 13' sailboat has a mahogany daggerboard. There is a crack in it,
running
about 1/3rd of the length, about 1" from the trailing edge.
It does not affect anything, but I am concerned it will crack further
and
break off; so I am hoping to stabilize it to prevent that.

how much does the cracked section move relative to the rest of the wood?
I've stuck oars back together using just superglue before now (still going
strong).

I've had good success with fine cracks with just running epoxy into the
crack, and then very lightly painting epoxy across, you'd be surprised at
how much abuse even a tiny amount of epoxy like that will take on.

If it were my daggerboard I would _be_tempted_ to try running epoxy into
the
crack if the seperated section was not flexing a great deal and seeing how
that held up. If it re-cracks then a more aggressive strategy would be in
order (drill through with a FINE drill bit in a few places (more towards
the
end) and fill the holes with epoxy perhaps? a bit like spotwelding if you
want an analogy, or what your cabinetmaker suggested).

I would be strongly swayed by what your cabinetmaker suggested, he has a
far
better idea of wood and it's treatment than I do and most importantly, has
seen the piece of timber in question.

Another thought I have is that a light, running-epoxy-into-the-gap
technique
could well be complemented effectively and as minimally intrusively as
possible by running a little glassfibre tape along the bottom of the
dagger
board. This would be far less visually intrusive, would "tie" the two
piece
of wood together at their point of greatest leverage and would add
considerably to the abrasion resistance of the timber.

There is almost no motion, but I doubt I could get any glue into the crack;
it is too tight. (and I would like to keep it that tight.)

I also thought of tape along the bottom, but I am not sure there is enough
surface area to do the job.

Thanks.

first, drill a hole through the daggerboard at the top of the crack to
keep it from going any further up the daggerboard. next, drill more holes
along the crack. they don't have to go all the way through. fill all the
holes with adhesive. I'd suggest epoxy because its clear and won't spoil
the look of the daggerboard (as well as strong, waterproof, blah, blah,
blah). If you drill right through then tape one end of the holes shut and
work the epxoy into the other end. A toothpick is a good tool for filling
drilled holes with goop.

I'd also run epoxy along the crack. You can try inserting a wedge of some
sort at the bottom to see if the crack will open up a bit so the epoxy
will run in more. You could also ream out the crack a little with a pen
knife so more epoxy will get in.



--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

William R. Watt ) writes:

I'd also run epoxy along the crack. You can try inserting a wedge of some
sort at the bottom to see if the crack will open up a bit so the epoxy
will run in more. You could also ream out the crack a little with a pen
knife so more epoxy will get in.

I should mention this is not only to help hold the peices together but
also to keep water out of the crack because water will make the wood swell
up opening up the crack more, also starting rot.


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

Get some of the System Three Clear Coat epoxy. It is much thinner, has a
longer cure time, and will get into the crack with capillary action. Also
heat up the daggerboart with an electric blanket before putting the epoxy to
the crack. Do it in the evening so that as the daggerboard cools it will
suck more epoxy into the crack. Very small holes drilled at the top and
bottom of the crack sound like a good idea also.


"Wade Lippman" wrote in message
...
My 13' sailboat has a mahogany daggerboard. There is a crack in it,
running
about 1/3rd of the length, about 1" from the trailing edge.
It does not affect anything, but I am concerned it will crack further and
break off; so I am hoping to stabilize it to prevent that.

I showed it to a cabinet maker. He suggested routing some slots in it,
perpendicular to the crack, and filling the slots with fiberglass/epoxy.
The slots would have to be pretty small, because there simply isn't much
material to work with so close to the edge. I would then put a layer of
cloth over it to hold it together. (there ought to be enough clearance
for
a layer of cloth.)

I have some leftover glass cloth and epoxy from another project, but
wonder
about the technique. Would I take some cloth apart and soak the yarn in
epoxy, and then stuff it in the slots?

Any advice would be appreciated.

You can buy a rather large syringe (for horses) at most pet supply stores
and some hardware stores for a couple of bucks. I've used these over the
years to inject Epoxy or woodglue into tight spots. Works great but with
Epoxy it's usually a one use tool. I'd drill the ends to stop the crack from
running as previously suggested and then fill as much of the crack as
possible with Epoxy and clamp it with as many clamps as you can get on it.
Might want to put wax paper under the clamps so they don't become a
permanent part of the daggerboard ;-). Clean up the squeezed out Epoxy with
acetone before it dries.
Charles

"Ervin Charles" ) writes:

..... and clamp it with as many clamps as you can get on it.
Might want to put wax paper under the clamps so they don't become a
permanent part of the daggerboard ;-). Clean up the squeezed out Epoxy with
acetone before it dries.

I forgot about clamps, but for this job I'd just use rope around the
daggerboard. It doesn't have to be real tight because all you're doing is
holding the edges together until the glue sets. If you tape the wood with
cheap cellophane or masking tape before working with the glue it will not
get on the wood and will peal off with the tape. You can wrap the whole
daggerboard except for the split in plastic and be sure of not getting any
glue on the wood. Whenever using plastic with printing on one side make
sure that side is not next to the wood or you could get the print embedded
in the glue.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

"paul piercey" wrote in message news:p8_Ya.67586$cF.22355@rwcrnsc53...
Get some of the System Three Clear Coat epoxy. It is much thinner, has a
longer cure time, and will get into the crack with capillary action. Also
heat up the daggerboart with an electric blanket before putting the epoxy to
the crack. Do it in the evening so that as the daggerboard cools it will
suck more epoxy into the crack. Very small holes drilled at the top and
bottom of the crack sound like a good idea also.

This is your best bet. Pay particular attention to the heat to cool
part. Heat the part and use thin epoxy, I would not use clear coat
epoxy, but regular epoxy should seep in fine with the heated part. Do
it in the evening so the part continually cools during the first few
hours of cure (but not below 65 degrees F), this will draw the epoxy
into the wood nicely. If you wish, send me an e-mail and we can get
you off a few feet of 3.8 oz. tight weave fiberglass that I use when I
need a paper thin coating that is very strong (I got a big roll).
Cover the repair with it and you will have no problems and you will
not have to "key" or drill, or separate, or otherwise cause further
damage to the part. Might drill a very small hole in the very end of
the crack as William suggested, but in wood it is not always possible
to really find the end, or it is not straight through so many holes
would be required, in which case I would not bother with the hole(s)
at all.
Scotty from SmallBoats.com... To contact me go he
http://smallboats.com/contacts/contacts.mv




"Wade Lippman" wrote in message
...
My 13' sailboat has a mahogany daggerboard. There is a crack in it,
running
about 1/3rd of the length, about 1" from the trailing edge.
It does not affect anything, but I am concerned it will crack further and
break off; so I am hoping to stabilize it to prevent that.

I showed it to a cabinet maker. He suggested routing some slots in it,
perpendicular to the crack, and filling the slots with fiberglass/epoxy.
The slots would have to be pretty small, because there simply isn't much
material to work with so close to the edge. I would then put a layer of
cloth over it to hold it together. (there ought to be enough clearance
for
a layer of cloth.)

I have some leftover glass cloth and epoxy from another project, but
wonder
about the technique. Would I take some cloth apart and soak the yarn in
epoxy, and then stuff it in the slots?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I forgot about clamps, but for this job I'd just use rope around the
daggerboard. It doesn't have to be real tight because all you're doing is
holding the edges together until the glue sets.

There is no gap at all; I am more concerned that the epoxy can't creep well
enough; but prying it apart would certainly expand the crack.

Thanks all for your help.