Folkboat soap

[steve jones]

So… there’s been a Folkboat on Coronation St….. I googled it and it looks like the boat went up in flames! Hopefully that won’t happen to my Folkboat which I’ve been working on this winter and doing a bit of amateurish video blogging on youtube.

In the latest exciting episode I’ve discovered lots of rotten wood and metal as well as making new floor timbers and various keel bolts.

The wood screws holding the lower planking on have turned to mush… I wonder if they were bronze or brass… Also the bronze nuts on some of the structural back bone bolts have gone soft. I need a couple of 1/2 inch whitworth nuts. Does anyone know a supplier?

https://youtu.be/LBkwH92iuXA

 

[Euphonyx]

So… there’s been a Folkboat on Coronation St….. I googled it and it looks like the boat went up in flames! Hopefully that won’t happen to my Folkboat which I’ve been working on this winter and doing a bit of amateurish video blogging on youtube.

In the latest exciting episode I’ve discovered lots of rotten wood and metal as well as making new floor timbers and various keel bolts.

The wood screws holding the lower planking on have turned to mush… I wonder if they were bronze or brass… Also the bronze nuts on some of the structural back bone bolts have gone soft. I need a couple of 1/2 inch whitworth nuts. Does anyone know a supplier?

https://youtu.be/LBkwH92iuXA

No, but I'm a new subscriber. Looking forward to following your work!

 

[NormanS]

That took me back a bit. I built a Folkboat, away back in 66-67. I built her with strip planking, glued and edge nailed. She had a low coach roof, as she was built in a low shed. Wonderful boat, but as I am now somewhat older, I need a boat with a bit more home comfort. Good luck with your project.

 

[Euphonyx]

Really enjoying your work. When I got my boat, the first thing I did was put a skip beside it on the hard! That was 7 years ago. still working out new solutions to old problems. Good luck

 

[jamie N]

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...lts_bsw.html&usg=AOvVaw3aQQXKRq4MSvl7bxLi_QD4
It looks like these people do most things. I like your 'canopy' assembly! Mine's outside the house at the moment, and given the weather up here, I've decided not to launch this year, but to do a 'BIG' job with the varnishing, and doing it when the weather's as dry as it can be, which will then hopefully only require touching up for a few years.
It's a personal thing I know, but are you going to take your hull back to wood and varnish her? It's nothing to do with me of course, but seeing a wooden boat painted to look like a GRP one gives me the vapours!

 

[steve jones]

Thanks for the encouragement... Regarding varnished topsides... I stripped all of the paint off the hull just after I got the boat. The planking is absolutely beautiful, straight grained mahogany, I imagine from somewhere in central or south America. I thought about varnish but it would have been too much work at the time. My aim with the boat has always been for it to be a sailing boat rather than a project boat. This is obviously delusional as I've spent massively more time working on it than sailing it. Maybe once the deck and centre line timbers have been replaced, the cockpit made beautiful, the interior has been refitted and the spars and rigging have been spruced up I'll get back to varnished topsides. Could be a few years...

 

[jamie N]

Repeat every hour: "Varnishing is good fun, varnishing is good fun.....", until you believe it.
A painted mahogany hull is rather like having a purple Ferrari, or mock Tudor caravan; it's just not right! Good luck though, you're obviously doing a really good job on the timbers!
In truth, after a few very good years where I've sailed extensively and frequently, I'm finding the shore side work on the boat therapeutic at the moment.

 

[john_q]

This was our varnished folkboat William Blyth FB465 a few years after she was sold - lot of work and lots of compliments

 

[steve jones]

Haven’t done any varnishing yet but I’ve fitted the new floors and bolts.

Here’s a link to a video of my latest efforts…

https://youtu.be/VOuisodLvuY

The next big task is going to be sorting out the seams. Some of them are small enough to caulk but others will need splining. I think that I’m going to open out the ragged seams with a router then glue thin strips of sapele to one plank only and then caulk the “new”seam.

Does anyone have any experience or advice?

 

[DoubleEnder]

Don’t spline below the waterline! It’s ok to glue a spline to one plank and then caulk, but do not try to spline the seam completely below the line. It can kill your boat

 

[jamie N]

It's extremely easy to make the boat too tight when it's dry, not leaving enough space for it to take up when wet, which can cause bad damage.
When I bought mine, she'd not been in the water for a number of years, and leaked like a sieve when initially launched, to the point that I took her back out of the water within 20 minutes; water pouring out of every seam. Back on the trailer, I kept the boat wet for a couple of weeks as she took up, and when she wasn't taking up anymore, I caulked/filled those seams that still showed a leak, and relaunched without a problem.
I'd imagine that there are other ways to do it also, but this worked for me.

 

[steve jones]

Just incase anyone's wondering how the Folkboat work turned out...

https://youtu.be/NHyXOGS5NR8

I'd be really interested to hear any comments as it was all a bit of a journey in the dark...

The boat's back in the water now, it had a smallish leak so I leant it against a wall and knocked a bit more cotton into the garboard which seems to have helped. It's a bit difficult to tell where bilge water comes from because of deck leaks but I'm pretty confident that I won't sink. (just in case I got a new battery and rigged a solar panel to keep the bilge pump running)