Bob,
I do not know about the Columbia River, but I can tell you about the
Great Lakes (I live out here now).

All of the lakes are cold (in the case of Superior - Damn Cold), some of
the lakes have very low oxygen at the deeper levels because there is
very little vertical circulation. Some of the best logs recovered are
the oaks and such that do not rot easily in any case.

This is why the lakes have been a wreck divers paradise, but you have to
be ready for the cold. Until the Russians buying Canadian grain brought
us zebra mussels, many wrecks either wood or iron looked like they could
be pumped out returned to service.

Matt Colie


Bob wrote:
imagineero wrote:

Bob wrote:

Could do what the oldtimmers did.
Fill it with rocks and sink it.
Come spring dry it out and sail a tight boat that wont leak.



freshwater will be your worst enemy, causing rot.


So why did I know a guy in the Great Lakes who was under water logging
100+ year old submerged logs? Also, same thing happening in the
Columbia River. Logs that got waterlogged (interesting word) 100 years
ago and sunk out of the log rafts. Fine years later. no rot?

Now why would a log not rot in fresh water????

I like the idea of packing it with salt. One of the reasons the Scow
Schooner ALma in SF Bay survived was that it hauled salt for years. Or
so the PR says.

freshwater will be your worst enemy, causing rot.


So why did I know a guy in the Great Lakes who was under water logging
100+ year old submerged logs? Also, same thing happening in the
Columbia River. Logs that got waterlogged (interesting word) 100 years
ago and sunk out of the log rafts. Fine years later. no rot?

Now why would a log not rot in fresh water????

Im not an expert on rot, but what i understand from what I've read is
that the ideal conditions for rot are fresh water + oxygen + heat. I
may be wrong on this, but i thought that rot was made up of a hierarchy
of bacteria, and it builds up as a food chain to the point where youve
got really bad rot. If you can kill one part of the cycle you get rid
of your problems. I know for sure that a boat left sitting in a
backyard for a long time exposed to rain water is a prime candidate for
rot, whereas a hull left in the ocean is likely to last a lot longer
(at least below the water line).

Rot seems to always start where freshwater leaks/drips in. With the
case of the logs deep down in the lake my guess would be lack of exygen
plus lack of heat prevents things from going too badly wrong....

Just my opinions, youd do well to take them with a pinch of salt ;-)