biz inscribed in red ink for all to know:
RW Salnick wrote:

But others have made the point: You had best be ready to do the
work.. there will be a lot of it. Wooden boats want very much to
turn back into mulch. It will be your responsibility to stay ahead of
this process.

All that taken into consideration, a well cared for wooden boat is
truely a thing of beauty...


Thanks for that Bob

Just a thought, but is the horrific amount of work on wooden boats
people keep talking about because their experiences have involved
maintaining varnished wood? I mean the boat I'm considering has no bare
wood at all. The superstructure is all made from ply and painted
several coats of battleship grey!

I know a few wooden dinghy owners who spend a lot of time sanding and
varnishing their dinghies, but surely if you just slap a load of paint
all over it that's lower maintenance than keeping up the healthy
polished wooden look? My boat in question is certainly not going to be
a great example of beautiful wood.


No, the work I am referring to is staying ahead of rot. Any place where
fresh water can get to the wood will eventually rot. So sealing board
edges and seams is an extremely critical act. And it is made difficult
by the movement of the wood in response to changing temperatures,
changing humidity, and the normal flexing that happens as the boat moves
over waves. You must stay ahead of it. On a painted boat, the first
sign of rot is often paint bubbling up - kind of like what you'd see on
a car when rust is going on under the paint (if you are an old car buff,
you'll know what I mean).

Varnishing is a whole 'nother thing...

bob
s/v Eolian
Seattle