Carvel Splines

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raggy

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My new (to me) boat has a carvel hull that is splined.

She has been out of the water for over a year. The previous owner had striped the wood back to bare wood up to the water line and then stopped work.

As you can imagine the most of the spines have dropped out and some have been lost. I have limited knowledge of wooden boat repairs and am not sure how to proceed.

Can I just glue back in the spline's have got?

How can I make up some new ones to fill the gaps?

Is it best to use hardwood or softwood?

Is there an alternative option?
Can I simply caulk it instead?


I will try to add some photos when I can get my camera to work.
She is an 8M Folkboat built by Shipcrest of Havant.
 
raggy said:
My new (to me) boat has a carvel hull that is splined.

She has been out of the water for over a year. The previous owner had striped the wood back to bare wood up to the water line and then stopped work.

As you can imagine the most of the spines have dropped out and some have been lost. I have limited knowledge of wooden boat repairs and am not sure how to proceed.

Can I just glue back in the spline's have got?

How can I make up some new ones to fill the gaps?

Is it best to use hardwood or softwood?

Is there an alternative option?
Can I simply caulk it instead?


I will try to add some photos when I can get my camera to work.
She is an 8M Folkboat built by Shipcrest of Havant.
Click to expand...

I have no connection other than as a very happy customer. Ring John at Traditional Boat Supplies. We met him at the boat show in London about 6 or 7 years ago. Extremely helpful and will talk you through what needs to be done. 01502 712311. Highly reccomended
Hope this helps, Stu
 
Best thing ever done to my boat - saves all those seams cracking after you've spent weeks on paintwork and she first goes on the crane. Definitely softwood - either make new or just epoxy back the old ones. You may need to tack in place with a copper or brass nail. The standard of finish you can maintain on the topsides is hugely improved - plus of course there are no leaks when the boat heels.
 
WEST, the epoxy manufacturer, publish a very clear illustrated manual "The Restoration & Repair of Wooden Boats" which explains how to do it. It might be available on-line.
 
Thanks, the west system site is very helpfull, might go down the route of simply filling with epoxy paste below the waterline.
 
EEEK!
Dont 'epoxy paste below the waterline'. You will bugger the boat.

Splines.
Remove loose ones. Where they are stuck on one side you can either hook them out or you may need to use a router with a tapered bit. Mind the timbers on the inside!

Machine up new splines. I use cedar as it has a very low resistance to crushing and is durable. Just what you want to minimise damage when the boat returns to the water.

If you have a tilting saw use this. If not rip the splines first on a table saw, then bevel them on your thicknesser. You will nedd to make a simple jig to do this.

Clean out the seams with some P60 doubled up to remove as much old glue as possible.

wet out the seam and tap gently in. A bent panel pin at each end will keep them there whilst the glue sets. Epoxy if your fit is poor, or Polyurethene if your fit is good.

Flush off with a block plane, sand and paint, inside AND out.

Below the waterline just soft red lead putty, a few weeks before you launch, so it doesn't go hard.

Treat boat gently untill it takes up.
 
The splines above the water line are fine other than one small one. As they where left painted. I will be striping them ready to repaint the whole hull when I know what to do below the waterline.

Are you saying i could just use red putty for all the joints below the waterline?
 
I think what he means is if you fit tight splines below the water (or epoxy filler), when the planks take up the force may crack the frames.
 
Oh I see so best option is to either knock up some new splines useing something like ceder which compresses well. or simply caulk below the waterline.

I will look into sourcing some timber and running up some sample splines to get the right profile.
 
Seanick said:
EEEK!
Dont 'epoxy paste below the waterline'. You will bugger the boat.

Splines.
Remove loose ones. Where they are stuck on one side you can either hook them out or you may need to use a router with a tapered bit. Mind the timbers on the inside!

Machine up new splines. I use cedar as it has a very low resistance to crushing and is durable. Just what you want to minimise damage when the boat returns to the water.

If you have a tilting saw use this. If not rip the splines first on a table saw, then bevel them on your thicknesser. You will nedd to make a simple jig to do this.

Clean out the seams with some P60 doubled up to remove as much old glue as possible.

wet out the seam and tap gently in. A bent panel pin at each end will keep them there whilst the glue sets. Epoxy if your fit is poor, or Polyurethene if your fit is good.

Flush off with a block plane, sand and paint, inside AND out.

Below the waterline just soft red lead putty, a few weeks before you launch, so it doesn't go hard.

Treat boat gently untill it takes up.
Click to expand...

JUst to add an aside, my splines are the same timber as the planking, iroko and they and put in on top of cotton caulking and glued with cascophen, some are beggining to show a few lines now, but I expected this in the meddy. Never seen a boat with splines right through to the inside. But must be many ways to skin anything!!
 
ccscott49 said:
JUst to add an aside, my splines are the same timber as the planking, iroko and they and put in on top of cotton caulking and glued with cascophen, some are beggining to show a few lines now, but I expected this in the meddy. Never seen a boat with splines right through to the inside. But must be many ways to skin anything!!
Click to expand...

I was wondering about their depth. If I didn't have to go to work I would fancy putting some splines in WS's topsides - the old teak doesn't move much, just enough to spoil the paint job. If you are splining from scratch, presumably you have to a use router to make the seams consistent in width and depth. How deep would you go? (originally 7/8" planking, probably down to 3/4" now.)
 
I have one small spline to do this weekend...about 0.5m long above waterline, between mahohony carvel planks. Thinking of using mahogony as spline material....now I am a bit worried it might not compress sufficiently once topsides take up moisture. Should I worry?
 
Not below the wline

My boat was splined below the line and it was near terminal. Cracked frames and timbers, badly cupped planks, pulled rivets, horrorshow. Caulk it

Graham
 
Only my topsides are splined. Below the waterline is sikaflexed - and also cotton caulked. This allows some movement of the planking to reduce potential stress of shrinking/expanding planking on the timbers
 
gdallas said:
My boat was splined below the line and it was near terminal. Cracked frames and timbers, badly cupped planks, pulled rivets, horrorshow. Caulk it

Graham
Click to expand...

Mine the whole hull is splined, and its all in wondeful condition. Mind you its also cascover sheathed from six inches above the waterline, to the keel. (well including the keel actually, with bronze keel band)
 
Hmm now I have a new problem. The opld owner has stiped more than the antifoul off so I dont have a waterline mark. How can I find out where it sould be?

Has anyone got a 7.9m similar boat that can give me an estermate?
 
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