Is there a good book on wooden boat ownership?

Shuggy

Shuggy

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 Mar 2006
Messages
1,182
Location
Argyll
Visit site
Hi. I'm very new to wooden boats, having bough a 1962 Miller Fifer 33' at the beginning of this year. We've logged up about 800 miles and some great days & evenings but the thought of winter approaching has left me scratching my head about some of the things I should be doing.

For example, she needs re-painting but some of the putty is being pushed out from between the planks - so I need to work out how to sort that for starters.

I need to be a boat owner 'on a budget' and I'm pretty handy - so what I'd like to know is whether there is a really good book for the DIY wooden boat owner - which explains construction, maintenance, repair - what to use, what not to use etc etc.

Can anyone recommend anything?

Many thanks.
 
There are a number of good books, but oddly, they rarely announce themselves as books on maintenance. Good maintenance practice stems from good boatbuilding practice. So a good book on maintenance might look like a good book on Wooden Boat Building, or 'Classic Boat Surveying'. Once you are familiar with good building practice, maintenance becomes obvious. Books will also usually only cover hull building or rigging, or interior fit-out, or mechanical work, but rarely will you get the whole works in one book. This is more because there is enough material in one aspect to fill a book, without trying to cover a number of aspects and doing a superficial job of each one. Another thing to be aware of is 'Local Practice'. There are a myriad number of ways of building a boat, and usually one is favoured in a district or even a single boatyard. While the books may have been written by someone well versed in Thames Estuary practices, these may be different to Fife practices. An example is the fastenings; copper is most frequently used, but I understand that Miller's used iron. It's a different local practice. Scottish builders would have been likely to use larch for planking, whereas South Coast builders would have had easier access to imported Pitch Pine or mahogany. It's a huge field of research, so start building your library ASAP.
Peter.
 
I think is spot on but I would suggest that in addition to brousing around, you post specific questions on this forum. 1. You get some good answers from people who do it/do it; 2. Some things that might sound formidable will be less threatening with the advice that here's. 3. We'll enjoy it, and 4. It will help to inform others.

So for example I remember a pretty good thread a while ago about winter care for wooden boats which you might find again by searching.

Putty pushing out - well let me have first go and the more experienced will add. Depends. I think I would like to know when the seams were last done. If a while ago I worry about damp behind the planks (i.e. causing the planks to swell and squeeze out the putty) particularly at stem and stern. I'd be thinking checking the deck joint. If the seams were freshly done prior to launching then I be expecting some pouting as the timber takes up moisture and its a simple sand and repaint, Mind you it's been very hot and dry so I'd be checking that joint. Ditto any blackening of timber behind the varnish near joints in the brightwork.

What do others think?
 
Fit like, Shuggy.

I've suggested this before to another forumite, if you are buying anything from Abe Books, find the best copy of Motor Cruising from The Lonsdale Library vol XIX. Excellent book from the 30's covering from all sorts of wooden boat maintenance and going for $11-12. Highly recommended.

A friend of mine has a more recent book which have just had a quick glance of. He is currently working on a boat in Corfu but as soon as he returns in a couple of weeks, I'll get the title and will let you know once I have my own copy. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum, from one owner of a Scottish-built boat to another.

I'm in a similar situation to you - I've owned Crystal for almost three years, am always hungry for information (for which this forum is a good point to start foraging) and am well and truly on a budget! I've got a couple of books, but, as I think has already been mentioned, they don't tend to be very in-depth, and only serve to give a general idea of common tasks. Issues such as the one you have with your seams (Crystal has the same thing in places) are better served by putting out some feelers in this forum and that of Wooden Boat magazine.

This book is very useful, though, with equal focus on boats made from all common materials: Michael Verney's Complete Book Of Yacht Care.

Good luck, and post some pictures of your Fifie for us!

/<
 
Michael Verney’s books are a good place to start – he wrote quite a few and they are all sound. “The Care and Repair of Hulls”, “The Complete Book of Yacht Care”, “Practical Conversions and Yacht Repairs” come to mind. Try your library, secondhand bookshop or of course Abebooks.com

The three golden rules are:

Keep fresh water away. Rain water trickling through deck leaks is the usual cause of death for wooden boats – on a Fifer, pay very strict attention to the bulwark stanchions where they pass through the covering boards, but also check round deck structures and deck fittings.

Keep a howling draft through the boat, especially when you are not there. If there is even the faintest trace of a “wooden boat smell” when you first open the hatch at the weekend, you are not ventilating enough. The minimum size of ventilator that does any good has a cross sectional area of six square inches. Anything less is a waste of time. Try keeping things like the fore hatch and skylights partly open.

Buy and use good canvas covers. A cockpit cover, sail covers and hatch covers in the season and a really good fitted canvas winter cover when laid up.
 
Covers

Is there a reason not to use an all-over cover in summer, other than inconvenience and a bit more time to get sailing? Windage on a swinging mooring perhaps?

I would be tempted to try and get an all-over cover for winter and summer to keep out summer showers and UV, and just put up with the inconvenience of putting it on and taking it off... although once again, that might not be safe on a swinging mooring.

/<
 
Re: Covers

I do not think that would be practical.

When I lived in Hong Kong, one or two boats had all over AWNINGS, tied down to the guard rail, to keep the sun off to some extent, but they were moored in the typhoon shelter and had a high level of professional assistance, to ensure that the awnings were stowed in the event of a strong wind.

An all over cover would be awful to fit and to stow. Where would you stow the A frames and ridge pole? How would you secure it at the sides? It takes me 2-3 hours to fit ours ashore, and about as long to stow it, and I just have to tie the side ropes under the keel.
 
Wow! I get stuck into work for 2 days and come back to this! Many thanks to all of you... I will get digging at the weekend for some of the titles above. All really useful advice. FYI, I'm starting from a great point; the last owner poured love and effort into rescuing the old girl so I think the planks were just really dry when she was launched. The deck is bone dry and has been expoxied, so I think we're ok there. She had a clear survey apart from a bit of rot in the wheelhouse but I'm really looking forward to pouring in some more love. She's given us a cracking summer so she deserves it.

Will no doubt post some specific quiestions in due course.

Thanks again,

Shuggy
 
Awnings

Ah yes - I was in fact talking about an awning rather than a cover with frames, and had written a whole paragraph about them and how they use them on wooden yachts on the Broads, which I then deleted because I didn't think it was relevant! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

But I would imagine an awning on a swinging mooring on a huge commercial river like the Thames would just be asking for trouble. I really must stop looking for shortcuts...

/<
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top