How Old is too old for a clinker built boat

[Romeo]

Well, my lovely boat is 80 years old now, and is really starting to show her age. Part of the family, but at some point do you need to decide that enough is enough and break an old boat up? She is going to need a bit of professional help, and we usually get a yard to give her a decent bit of work every ten years or so, and on each occasion that I can remember the bill was probably more than she is worth. When is enough, enough?

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

What are the floors made of? And in what condition are the (majority of) frames?

Mike

 

[drew silverwitch]

Well, my lovely boat is 80 years old now, and is really starting to show her age. Part of the family, but at some point do you need to decide that enough is enough and break an old boat up? She is going to need a bit of professional help, and we usually get a yard to give her a decent bit of work every ten years or so, and on each occasion that I can remember the bill was probably more than she is worth. When is enough, enough?

A wooden boat is like the proverbial road brush, as long as you keep renewing the handle or head it will last for ever, though in the case of a boat it is as long as you keep replacing the wood it will last for ever.
I have just parted with my old boat(Built in 1935) after 15 years.
It was not worth what I have spent on it over he years, but then if that really matters to someone they should not own a wooden boat in the 1st place.
Until now I have always had a wooden boat but find I can no longer look after 1 as well as I used to.
You do not own an old wooden boat you are married to it

 

[Romeo]

What are the floors made of? And in what condition are the (majority of) frames?

Mike

Larch on Oak. Some ribs are needing replaced. The planking is starting to feel kind of tired to me!

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

I've assumed that this is a pocket-cruiser type of vessel like a folkboat, decked, and with fitted-out accommodation below. But do you have any photos you can post?

When you say the larch is starting to feel "tired", what do you mean exactly? Have you found patches of rot? Are the hood ends coming away from the stem or transom?

The floors are the horizontal members that tie the two sides together a short space above the kelson. They could be timber as well, or they could be metal (bronze, iron, steel.) Their condition is important to the structural integrity of the boat.

When frames break it's usually at the turn of the bilge. If most of yours are broken they should be replaced (a time-consuming job and, depending on the interior lay-out, a possibly-difficult one). But if there are only a few frames in this condition they can probably be sistered readily enough.

A wooden boat is a bit like grandfather's axe or Drew's road brush. Unlike a f/g boat, if you have the time and the inclination she can be repaired. (And if by any chance this is an open dinghy, the repairs will be a good deal simpler.)

As I say, photos would be good.

Mike

 

[Romeo]

Not a dinghy, but a ballasted day boat.

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

That's a nice-looking little day-boat. Sixteen feet by six-foot beam, maybe? Anyway, the picture makes it a bit easier to see what the situation you're facing is.

Going back, when you say the larch is starting to feel "tired", what do you mean exactly? Have you found patches of rot? Are the hood ends coming away from the stem or sternpost? Are the laps weeping, suggesting the need for re-riveting?

I assume the floors are timber. Are they sound? (They're the horizontal members the burden-boards will be resting on.)

I assume external ballast? How is it fastened?

Overall, what make you think the boat needs any work at all?

Mike

 

[Romeo]

She is 18 feet LOD. There are gaps where the planking meets the stern post. Wood is soft in places, although not in my view rotten. Soft spots where the garboards meet the hog. There is a bit of water coming in, although she can be left for a week or two without worrying too much, so not that serious. Ballast is internal. Ingots in the bilges. Nails are tired, and it was a leak where a nail had come out which was really starting to make me have some doubts. Boat has been in the family for a long time, but at some point one has to accept enough is enough. I have not yet decided if now is that point!

I suspect she was probably expected to last about 20 years when built, rather than the 80 that she has.

 

[Keith 66]

I like clinker boats, I rebuilt one called Billows back in 91. She was built at Rye by Phillips as a sailing tripper boat, 21ft long she was planked in good tight grained spruce on grown oak half frames wih steamed timbers in the topsides. Buiit in 1938 her planking was excellent & even at 70 years old she did not need refastening.
I put a lot of this down to the fact that the previous long term owner had saturated her with linseed oil & cuprinol & repeated the process regularly.
During the rebuild i too added a lot of boat unguent, linseed oil, turpentine & stockholm tar. I understand she now sails out of Titchmarsh marina?

Anyway boats like this are getting rarer & deserve to be kept going, the odd plank is acheiveable as are ribs & refastening. Bodging is never good so avoid doubling or sistering ribs if at all possible.

 

[Redwing228]

Nails are tired, and it was a leak where a nail had come out which was really starting to make me have some doubts. Boat has been in the family for a long time, but at some point one has to accept enough is enough. I have not yet decided if now is that point!.

Despite her age you seem to have 'hit the nail' on the head in your description - the problem is mainly in her fastenings if she is becoming a bit leaky? Perhaps she just needs a bit of an overhaul and some re-fastening. Is she copper-fastened with nail/rove?

A clinker boat as pretty as yours deserves to be preserved in my opinion.

Have a look at my blog - I'm fixing up old boats that probably would (and should) have gone on the bonfire:-
http://smallclinkerboat.blogspot.co.uk

 

[cliffordpope]

My 21 footer was built in 1882. Believed to have been originally a half-decker, the cabin was added in 1913 and the original counter sawn off. I rebuilt this some years ago, just guessing what perhaps it should look like. Some planks have been replaced over the years, most recently the garboards in about 1935.
I replaced about 25% of the steamed frames a few years ago, teaching myself the technique for using rivits and roves, and making the tool out of a steel bolt with a hole in the end. I invented for myself the trick of "steam in a bag", which is miles easier than fiddling around with a traditional steam box.
The floors were absolutely rock hard, like pickled bog oak. I think most of the structure was preserved through the Norfolk custom of spraying tar oil in the bilges every winter while she was ashore, and painting the underwater hull with hot tar.
The larch planks seem impregnated with tar.

The picture gives the general impression - I don't seem to have a close up to hand on this computer.

Take a year or two out of commission, and devote some time to building a good weatherproof cover so you are not hampered by the weather.