In article , says...
That boat, as some may be tired of reading, is a 1958
Chris Craft. It's a plywood lapstrake hull. Mostly we
trailer it. When running there is a small leak and the
bilge gets an inch or so of water. Each time we pull
her out all the water dries up. But that wood
remains damp for some time. ~ As I understand it
rot is really micro-organisims that eat away the wood
and they thrive when there is dampness but also
oxygen.

So my question: Is there anything, salt maybe?, that
I can put in the bilge water while running that will
curtail these criters & their rot while not harming
the wood or making a mess?

Gary, There was a good discussion of this by a retired chemical engineer
named Dave Carnell. Unfortunately his page is gone, and I'm worried
about Dave too, as I haven't heard from him since I built a tool for him
after he had a stroke.

I have a copy of the cached copy of his page he
http://terryking.us/public/boats/RotEthyleneGlycol.html

and a couple of equivalent text files he
http://terryking.us/public/boats

I have used Ethylene Glycol on my 25 year old homemade inboard cuddy
cabin boat for the last 7 or 8 years, arresting some rot in several
places. Every winter layup I spray Glycol along the almost-dry inside
keel, on the lower frames, and on a couple of slightly-soft plywood
panels. I have added a new transom of 3/4" Pressure-treated plywood
with epoxy/glass over it. But the original transom is spongy to realy
deteriorated in several places. Every layup I pump Ethylene Glycol into
about 100 1/4" holes drilled into the inner old transom. It has had no
progression of rot, and no more "obvious rot fungus growth" like it had
before. Ethylene Glycol is one of the few things that can stop rot in
wood that is wet.

I hope to keep the old girl running another 25 years...

It Ain't Elegant. But it works, by gosh...

(Please read Dave's article before you bombard me with toxicity warnings
and turn me in to the EPA. I used to use PentaChlor (AKA PCP) which was
a lot worse :-)

--
Regards, Terry King ...In The Woods In Vermont

"The one who dies with the most parts LOSES! What do you need??"