1920's 14' Clinker Solid Wood

paddlesteamerman

paddlesteamerman

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1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

Hello All,
I am new to the site, only joining a few minutes.. I am James McDougall, from 300km north west of Melbourne Victoria Australia...
I have recently bought a 1920's 14' Clinker made out of solid wood. She was used as the Portland Harbour Masters row boat from 1920-1937. She still has the beautiful shape, but needs a lot of restoration. My first job is to sand back all the paint and primers until I can get down to the wood itself. From then I need to fill in a few large cracks with fibreglass resin, but it was the <span style="color:red"> </span> CAULKING <span style="color:black"> </span> I have a question with.. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I have no idea what so ever when it comes to caulking.. Any help and suggestions are always welcomed here!!!!!
Hopefully there are some suggestions out there that will be useful..
Cheers
 
Re: 1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

You do not caulk small clinker boats, all that does is stretch the fastenings and make them leak more. Nor should you fill the cracks with anything rigid like glass fiber, if they are not long fill them with a flexible caulking compound. If they are long either replace the plank, or if she is not worth the effort, clench doublers over the inside, bedded in flexible sealant, before filling the crack as before. If she is dry expect her to take up and squeeze out some of the caulk from the cracks. If she is to be used in sea water and the cracks are small ones, hard household soap can be used as a temporary stopping.
 
Re: 1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

Thanks for the info there, I had been told that I should fill in the cracks with a fibreglass resin and fillet powder and then once that is done for float her and see where the leaks are and then caulk them up with white lead putty and a hammer..
She was a sea boat, but will now be purely used for the freshwater River Murray as a paddler!!
Thank You <span style="color:blue"> </span>
 
Re: 1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

Thanks for the thread, I will check it out!!
The cracks are not huge, just enough really to let the boat sink in a matter of seconds.. the widest one would probably be about 1cm wide and 14'long

Thanks
 
Re: 1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

Troll alert me thinks "cracks not large @ 1cm wide x 14ft long ?????
 
Re: 1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

A crack 1cm wide is a serious crack, and certainly not something to be treated lightly. You'll need to insert a 'graving piece', which is a piece of softwood [Murray pine would be ideal] let into the crack in place of the wood which isn't there. You'll have to straighten up the sides of the crack with a chisel or laminate trimmer. [A router would be too big to get in there]. If the crack wanders around, as they sometimes do, it may require several separate graving pieces to do the job. You'd have to glue the pieces in place with epoxy resin.

I assume that you're at Mildura or near there. I've been told that there is a very good boatbuilder at Echuca, although that is still a long drive on a hot day. You may be able to take the problem to him, or pick his brains.
Peter.
 
Re: 1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

If a crack is 1 cm wide you surely have to wonder how it got there? Has the wood really shrunk by that extent? If so, is it ever going to swell back again? Or is there a crack because a bit of wood has splintered out? If the crack is likely to close partly on prolonged soaking, what happens if you have let in a piece of new wood to fill the entire gap? Wouldn't that be as bad as filling it with fibreglass in the first place?
 
Re: 1920\'s 14\' Clinker Solid Wood

[ QUOTE ]
A crack 1cm wide is a serious crack, and certainly not something to be treated lightly. You'll need to insert a 'graving piece', which is a piece of softwood [Murray pine would be ideal] let into the crack in place of the wood which isn't there. You'll have to straighten up the sides of the crack with a chisel or laminate trimmer. [A router would be too big to get in there]. If the crack wanders around, as they sometimes do, it may require several separate graving pieces to do the job. You'd have to glue the pieces in place with epoxy resin.

I assume that you're at Mildura or near there. I've been told that there is a very good boatbuilder at Echuca, although that is still a long drive on a hot day. You may be able to take the problem to him, or pick his brains.
Peter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Peter - I am actually based 20km west of Ararat (300km north of Melbourne)... I travel to Echuca many times a year, completing my hours on the Port boats to become a steam engineer so it wouldnt be out of my way to see the boat builders up there, even the ports shipwright!! And also make regular trips to various river towns in SA!!
I really just have to get the crack evened up a little and put the wood in it.. I have had a few suggestions from people on the Paddleducks Forum (I know there is a Peter from OZ on there, maybe the same one)..
Thanks everyone for all the info on the subject, any more is still appreciated
 
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