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#1
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Question bout caulking and rotten planks
I have been looking at the hull of my 1973 carver 28' mariner which i
just bought about a week ago.. The hull is planked mohogany but i noticed 2 or 3 spots where there is rot in the planks by the frames just about at the water line.. Can anyone tell me what i should do? I was thinking of sanding down the outside to get rid of the paint and the other **** the previous owner just slopped on to cover some areas to take a good look at the hull. How does one go about removing a plank? is it possible to just cut out the problem section and replace it with another piece of wood without removing the whole plank, then sealing it somehow?? How does one go about making the hull watertight? I know nothin about caulking but would like any information someone can give. I was thinking about just remove the caulking and stuff around the problem areas/planks so the caulking of the other planks stays there (less work for me) but is this wise? Also, i noticed when i lay on the v-berth and look up i see mould growing on the deck's underside. how does one go about removing mould? does the presence of this mold mean that i have to replace the deck too? any advice would be appreciated. Jay. |
#2
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Question bout caulking and rotten planks
On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 16:12:44 GMT, Jason wrote:
The hull is planked mohogany but i noticed 2 or 3 spots where there is rot in the planks by the frames just about at the water line.. =============================================== The first thing you should do is ask for your money back. The next thing you should do is call up your hull surveyor. You DID have it surveyed before you paid for it, right? Assuming you can't break the deal, can't give it back, and have no surveyor to sue, you now own what is known as a "project boat" and have much to learn. |
#3
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Question bout caulking and rotten planks
Waynes humor is rather dry, but that's about the size of it.
You need to find a place to work on it, and you need to find how you going to get it here to there and (hopefully) back again. The following is some info. Wooden boats without fiberglass or plastic coatings shrink when they dry out on land too long. This results in seams opening up and various other peculiarities, some of which will go back to normal when you dump it back into the water. For this reason wooden boat owners try to get all their fixing done withing a short time. I'm not an expert, but for a small boat I believe you'd want it back in the water within a week or two. You can extend this slightly by spraying water on the boat and covering it with tarps to inhibit evaporation. But you're probably not in that time frame, so go with the flow. Figure on standing by with some good pumps the first time you drop it back in the water. Many perfectly good wooden boats have sunk overnight after being restored and put back in the water. It takes a few days before they swell up again to the point where their hull seams close up and they keep the water out. All that stuff you mentioned can be done, more or less. But some of it can require some fairly good woodworking, some of it requires some really excessive muscle (getting planks back on), some of it requires wierd and peculiar skills (traditional caulking). You can do all of it with hand tools if you are truly a master boatwright, but otherwise you'll need a small shop. Wooden boats usually rot from the top down - ie. rain leaks are far more deadly than hull leaks. That doesn't mean you can ignore your hull, but it does mean that you can kiss off the boat unless you fix all the rain leaks. You have a lot to learn. You have a boat to learn on and without doubt the best way to start is to spend a month or two loitering around the docks and boatyards and chatting up anyone who will put up with you. You topic of conversation will be "who's a really good surveyor of wooden boats around here?". When the same name starts to come up over and over, you know who you need to talk to next. Pay him what he asks and politely question and learn as much as possible when he surveys your boat. You want to know all the dirty ugly little details, and some ideas about fixing them. Even if he condemns the boat as unfit to go back in the water (you want the boat hauled so he can do a decent job), it will be worth every penny if you have any thoughts about being a wooden boat owner. To prevent more bad things happening to your boat in the mean time: 1) Verify a working automatic bilge pump. Ensure sufficient battery charge to run the pump and take care of any existing leaks. If this isn't possible, either visit the boat every day and pump it by hand, or buy a new car batter, a battery charger, and an automatic bilge pump which you wire directly to the battery and drop into the lowest part of the bilge. 2) Re the above. Bilge pumps clog up if there is lots of crud and crap floating around them. 3) Cover the boat with a tarp to prevent rain getting in. The tarp should be hung about 2 feet above the deck to allow for: 4) Ventilate the boat. Wooden boats require huge amounts of fresh air ventilation in every single nook and cranny or the rot and mildew. So leave the hatches open and if the boat has adjustable vent scoops, aim them at the wind. 5) Check that the lines securing the boat are not frayed or otherwise looking like they will fail. Make them fast to cleats or rings or whatever the WON"T PULL OUT. This applies to both ends of the line - some boats have cleats that are purely imaginary. 6) Close the valves (seacocks) which you should find installed anyplace a hose penetrates the hull of you boat. However, don't make like King Kong and break one of them. They're not supposed to break, but ... They do sometimes. Inboard engines, toilets, sinks all use water from outside, and in the case of toilets and sink they drain to the outside. 7) DONT CONNECT A WATER SUPPLY HOSE TO YOUR BOAT, even if it has that capability. A plumbing leak at home makes a mess - a supply leak on a boat often sinks the boat. When you're not loitering around the dock, take the Coast Guard Auxilliary class on boating. It's free and it has lots of good info. Good luck. Rufus |
#4
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Question bout caulking and rotten planks
jay you need pro help with the planking work to show you how to do the repairs
as to cleaning up the mildo bleach and water will work well on that |
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