Caulking & Seam Filler

[AJAWATER]

Im planning to relaunch by yawl later this summer after almost two years out of water. Some of the seams have really opened, the putty has cracked on one side of seam and remains stuck to other.

Should I pull this out and re apply new putty. I have bougth pre mixed read lead putty, but have heard I shoud add grease of some sort before relaunching to allow it to squeeze out. Also, after two weeks the boat should be brought out and the seam redone with straight putty.

Is any of this advice right?

Any tips?

Thanks

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[Peterduck]

My first line of attack would be to launch the boat and keep it in the cradle if the yard will allow it [ie, they don't have another three boats to launch that morning] and allow the planks to swell up while the boat is prevented frrom sinking. It is quite amazing how far planks will shrink and expand, and also how quickly they will swellup again. A shipwright pal of mine has a 16ft dinghy in his garage which was built close seamed [ie, has no caulking]. It has seam gaps that you could poke a pencil through, but this will be sunk and allowed to swell up again. From your description your case is nowhere near as bad as that. I have done this after [reluctantly ] having my boat ashore through an Australian summer, and it took about two hours to stop inflowing enough to let the battery driven bilge pump and float switch look after it.
If it still leaks seriously after half a day, then you may have to pay attention to re-stopping the seams, but try this first.
Peter.

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[Transcur]

You must not put anything in the seam that goes hard. I would suggest that you try tallow. It can be trowelled into the seam easily and will not go hard. I have done this before and had no problems. Available in most builders merchants quite cheaply.
Happy stopping.

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