Dry boat

[Moz]

Hi folks,
I am in the middle of renovating a 26ft Miller Fifer, she has been out of the water for a couple of years and is badly in need of a good soak. I could put her back in the water but it is handy to have her in the the boat yard as this makes working on her easier. Someone has sugested that I fill the bilges with salt water as a temporary measure to buy me more time. What do you all think?
Moz.........

 

[Strathglass]

You also need to put canvas sacks in the bilges to keep them damp otherwise the wood will dry out as soon as the salt water dries out.

Iain

 

[Peterduck]

It will depend om how much access you have below the cabin sole as to whether you use sacks to keep the moisture in place. Also how quickly the water leaks out again. I would ask an accomplice to pour the seawater in, while I watch to see where it leaks out, and mark those places with a waterproof marker pen. These are obviously going to be places which could stand a little attention to the seams. Merely tightening the caulking very gently is likely to be enough, but I must stress the gently. If there is a split in a plank it may show up at this time, too. This is a golden opportunity, not to be wasted. It may be necessary to put quite a lot of water in intially, but it will be surprising how quickly the outflow will slow down.
Peter.

 

[mtb]

Old cushian foam is the modern equivilent , sacks are hard to come by these days .
When you put it back in have a sack of red wood saw dust , throw it on the water as you put the boat in , much of it will get drawn into the seams and help the taking up . ( this tip came from Wroxham boat sales)
Cheers
Mick

smile you'l be on your boat soon ;-)
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[Moz]

The water leaking back out again doesnt really bother me as I can easily put more in, I am more worried about the presure on the the planking from the inside.
Obviously I am not going to fill the entire boat up but how far should I go, will to much water force the plank fastenings out.
Moz......

 

[Casey]

Last year I had my clinker built Oakleaf out of the water and, as the weather improved, used a hand operated garden spray, filled with sea water, to keep her wet inside. If I did it every couple of days I found that she kept watertight but if I left her any longer she did leak water through the lands above the water line. I had stripped all paint below the water line and painted her with the Blakes system. When I launched there was very little ingress of water from below the water line and the wood took up within a couple of hours. Above the water line was a different problem and I hope that a change of colour from black and the application of some polysulphide filler will cure the leaks when she lays over.

 

[Moz]

Hi folks,
Casey that sounds like a good idea, someone also suggested throwing buckets of water at the hull, I guess the thing is to keep her damp and get her back in as soon as possible.
Most of the planking above the water line has been replaced and so hopefully when that swells up on the new caulking it will help to tighten the older wood up.
She is a beautifull boat though, does anyone have any experience with Fifers?
Moz...

 

[Strathglass]

It's unlikely that the hull would hold enough water to damage before it is tight again, but when it is tight this could be a problem. On a carvel yacht I has there were 5mm plus gaps between the butted yellow pine planks. And I was told that the hull should not be caulked. I solved the problem by filling all the gaps with a soft mastic and this did well enough to launch and tow it round to a shallow harbour. After a few days the wood had expanded enough to push out most of the mastic. I cleaned this off then antifouled the hull.
BTW I purchased the derelect hull before I rebuilt the boat in St Monans at a time when Millers yard was still operating.

Iain

 

[smart]

I may soon have a smilar problem...I am looking at a 1930's racer/cruser that has been out of the water for 5 years...although the planking looks good, I bet she needs to swell before she will be water tight. I imagine that you want a dry outer surface to work on, as far as paint goes, the dryer the better. The planking better be real tight before you get out your brushes.

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