Hi,

I was inspecting ribs on my 1942 83 footer and noted that the planking
looked great from inside. Using a knife I was able to scrape across the
wood and fine powder was generated quickly. Again, the wood looked good
but turns to powder quickly when scraped.

Question- I am guessing that this wood has seen it's better day...anything
I can do?

thanks
Marshall

I hope you didn't pay anything for this boat because it is sounding like you
are about to have to pay to have it broken up and hauled off. So far you
have asked about repairing rotten frames, rotten transom and rotten decks.
Now the planking is rotting.

You have a 30 year project ahead of you to restore that boat. Unless it is
of significant historical value that a museum might preserve it is for all
intents and purposes worthless and "emotional value" does not count. It
would be easier to start over from scratch.

Sorry.
--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"MarshallE" wrote in message
m...
Hi,

I was inspecting ribs on my 1942 83 footer and noted that the planking
looked great from inside. Using a knife I was able to scrape across the
wood and fine powder was generated quickly. Again, the wood looked good
but turns to powder quickly when scraped.

Question- I am guessing that this wood has seen it's better
day...anything
I can do?

thanks
Marshall

Is the dry powder wood or varnish?
If you can push a knife blade into the wood it's rotted and weak.
If you don't want to go to the expense of restoring the boat you can park
it somewhere on dry land and use it as a cottage. That way it doesn't have to
float and you're not in any danger of drowning.
--
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Responses to questions


The boat is a 1942 Wheeler 83 footer. This boat served in WWII and was part
of the Normandy flotilla. Some would believe she is worth
restoring...others would not. We would like to think she is worth restoring
though it was not our intention at purchase to undertake the task now at
hand. Not that it is important but we relied on the seller, seller's survey
and conversation with the actual surveyor. (not SAMS or NAMS) If you feel
the need to tell us what we should have done with regard to the purchase
please do so....though I would advise that you look back into your past and
recall when you did not know as much as today....and that maybe you learned
by earlier mistakes.

Not all areas of the boat are rotten but there is alot. The stem,
frames/ribs in the bow were rotten. The planking in the bow is in good
shape. We have restored the bow with a new stem, new frames, and new deck.
Most of the planking in the sides is good. The boat had plywood fastened to
the planking and then glassed. This work seems to be in good shape and may
influence the advice from others.

We knew that there was some rot in the stern. The more we investigated the
more problems we found....currently to the point of putting in a new stern
and needing to work forward to the point of locating good wood. The first
couple of feet of planking appears to be to soft to use for the new timbers
at the transom.

I understand normal ol rotten wood. I had not seen wood that appeared to be
in excellent condition but very dry to the scraping. The wood had not been
varnished.
Are there techniques to restore this wood?

With regard to emotional value.....I make purchases routinely that are
emotional as many do. So far I have not purchased a new $1,000,000 boat to
find 5 years later that it held 60% of it's purchase price. I would find
that to be very emotional and down right disturbing but there are others
that would disagree.

With regard to dry land...being 83 feet and weighing 80 tons makes it tough
to move to far beyond the boatyard. OH...and we own a slip for the boat.

The mechanical side of our boat is in good shape...we think. We cruised
over 1500 miles in the spring of 2004 without major incident.

My goal using this newsgroup is to learn and to share what I have learned
with others that are interested.

thanks,

Marshall






"William R. Watt" wrote in message
...

Is the dry powder wood or varnish?
If you can push a knife blade into the wood it's rotted and weak.
If you don't want to go to the expense of restoring the boat you can park
it somewhere on dry land and use it as a cottage. That way it doesn't have
to
float and you're not in any danger of drowning.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
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

Do you have any pictures? I'd like to see your boat...

Thanks,
Brian D



"MarshallE" wrote in message
m...
Responses to questions


The boat is a 1942 Wheeler 83 footer. This boat served in WWII and was
part
of the Normandy flotilla. Some would believe she is worth
restoring...others would not. We would like to think she is worth
restoring
though it was not our intention at purchase to undertake the task now at
hand. Not that it is important but we relied on the seller, seller's
survey
and conversation with the actual surveyor. (not SAMS or NAMS) If you
feel
the need to tell us what we should have done with regard to the purchase
please do so....though I would advise that you look back into your past
and
recall when you did not know as much as today....and that maybe you
learned
by earlier mistakes.

Not all areas of the boat are rotten but there is alot. The stem,
frames/ribs in the bow were rotten. The planking in the bow is in good
shape. We have restored the bow with a new stem, new frames, and new
deck.
Most of the planking in the sides is good. The boat had plywood fastened
to
the planking and then glassed. This work seems to be in good shape and
may
influence the advice from others.

We knew that there was some rot in the stern. The more we investigated
the
more problems we found....currently to the point of putting in a new stern
and needing to work forward to the point of locating good wood. The first
couple of feet of planking appears to be to soft to use for the new
timbers
at the transom.

I understand normal ol rotten wood. I had not seen wood that appeared to
be
in excellent condition but very dry to the scraping. The wood had not
been
varnished.
Are there techniques to restore this wood?

With regard to emotional value.....I make purchases routinely that are
emotional as many do. So far I have not purchased a new $1,000,000 boat
to
find 5 years later that it held 60% of it's purchase price. I would find
that to be very emotional and down right disturbing but there are others
that would disagree.

With regard to dry land...being 83 feet and weighing 80 tons makes it
tough
to move to far beyond the boatyard. OH...and we own a slip for the boat.

The mechanical side of our boat is in good shape...we think. We cruised
over 1500 miles in the spring of 2004 without major incident.

My goal using this newsgroup is to learn and to share what I have learned
with others that are interested.

thanks,

Marshall






"William R. Watt" wrote in message
...

Is the dry powder wood or varnish?
If you can push a knife blade into the wood it's rotted and weak.
If you don't want to go to the expense of restoring the boat you can park
it somewhere on dry land and use it as a cottage. That way it doesn't
have
to
float and you're not in any danger of drowning.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
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

MarshallE wrote:

I understand normal ol rotten wood. I had not seen wood that
appeared to be in excellent condition but very dry to the scraping.
The wood had not been varnished.

It is pretty normal to be able to scrape off a bit of wood wood with a
knife or chisel. A better check is to try to poke a screwdriver tip
into it...does it penetrate? Easily? Is the wood soft and punky? If
yes, it is dry rot.

Another consideration is "wet" or black rot. Is your boat iron
fastened? If yes, the fastenings have most likely deteriorated and in
doing so have damaged the adjacent wood...it will be soft, black and
damp.

I also wonder about the plywood and glass over the planks. Not a normal
procedure (and not one I would ever do under any circumstances). I
suspect it was done to give some strength to underlying bad wood.
____________________

Are there techniques to restore this wood?

One can repair dry rotted wood with thin, penetrating epoxies (Gluvit is
one brand name). However, they are *very* expensive. While I have used
them in smallish, nonstructural areas I wouldn't suggest them for a
general repair. The true cure is wood replacement.


--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

dadiOH wrote:

You can get a pretty good general idea of wood (and fastening) condition
by tapping with a hammer. Good wood well fastened will have a solid
sound; poor wood a flat, "thunk" sound.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

I understand normal ol rotten wood. I had not seen wood that appeared to be
in excellent condition but very dry to the scraping. The wood had not been
varnished.
Are there techniques to restore this wood?

I've "restored" an entire cedar outdoor patio deck by sanding. There's a
thin layer of soft discoloured wood on the surface which can be sanded
off. If you don't feel like sanding then you can apply the usual linseed
oil and kerosene (or any solvent, paint thinner). I oil the inside of my
wooden boats.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

On 7 Nov 2005 13:39:14 GMT, (William R.
Watt) wrote:


I understand normal ol rotten wood. I had not seen wood that appeared to be
in excellent condition but very dry to the scraping. The wood had not been
varnished.
Are there techniques to restore this wood?

I've "restored" an entire cedar outdoor patio deck by sanding. There's a
thin layer of soft discoloured wood on the surface which can be sanded
off. If you don't feel like sanding then you can apply the usual linseed
oil and kerosene (or any solvent, paint thinner). I oil the inside of my
wooden boats.


Linseed oil and kerosene is an old style wood cover.
Think of it as a poor man's varnish. I have used it on a hut interior
for the color and smell.
It does have water-repellent qualities, but test reports note the
surface remains porous to water.

Modern spar varnish is supposed to be way better.

Brian W

Have you looked at the site rotdoctor.com ?
I don't know how good they are, but the site may be worth looking at. As
other posters said/implied it is best to replace rot with new wood....of
course. However, you have a lot of boat to work on. Pickling some wood that
is still serviceable, but on the way out, may be a way of priorizing what
needs to be done first and what can be done later.

Sounds like a real project.

There's two types of boaters....guys that can't wait to get on the water and
guys that can't wait to get into their shop. Sometimes it takes awhile to
find out who you are.

...Ken

"MarshallE" wrote in message
m...
Hi,

I was inspecting ribs on my 1942 83 footer and noted that the planking
looked great from inside. Using a knife I was able to scrape across the
wood and fine powder was generated quickly. Again, the wood looked good
but turns to powder quickly when scraped.

Question- I am guessing that this wood has seen it's better
day...anything
I can do?

thanks
Marshall