How much is a wooden boat allowed to leak (plank on frame) and be considered
normal or healthy?

Simple common question, i'm sure, but of great importance to me at the moment
(you can imagine why)

Stefan

Stefan Topolski wrote:
How much is a wooden boat allowed to leak (plank on frame) and be
considered normal or healthy?

It depends. Has the boat been in the water for a while? Then the
seams should leak very little or none. If it is a sail boat, the
topside planks will weep when the boat is heeled and that area is in
the water.

If the boat has been dry for a while it may well (probably will) leak
like a sieve for 2-3 days until the planks swell.


--

dadiOH
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No, unfortunately she's been in close to 3 years after a complete rebuild - long
story - and that's what i needed to know. thanks!


dadiOH wrote:
Stefan Topolski wrote:
How much is a wooden boat allowed to leak (plank on frame) and be
considered normal or healthy?

It depends. Has the boat been in the water for a while? Then the
seams should leak very little or none. If it is a sail boat, the
topside planks will weep when the boat is heeled and that area is in
the water.

If the boat has been dry for a while it may well (probably will) leak
like a sieve for 2-3 days until the planks swell.

Stefan Topolski wrote:

How much is a wooden boat allowed to leak (plank on frame) and be
considered normal or healthy?

The old Viking saying (from somewhere in the Islandic Sagas) says that if a
boat has to be emptied only twice in three days, it is safe to take to the
sea. I suppose that included rain water, as they were open boats...

We just launched an old 8-meter boat, been on the dry all winter. At launch
we quickly installed an electric pump, and it was busy. We moved her to a
place with good electricity, and had to wait to see if the pump switch
would go on and off as it should. The next day we sailed her a home, a few
miles. And pumped her empty. The next week one of us went to check her
twice a day, and occasionally pump her empty. The week after, there was no
problem. Now (a month later) there is only a small pump running from the
battery. When we are out sailing, and she tilts a lot (as such boats do),
the pump runs 10 seconds twice an hour, emptying no more than a liter or
so. More if it has been raining...

-H