Learning wooden boat maintenance

[idw]

Morning all

I'm likely to become the new owner of a wooden clinker folkboat. I've had a full survey (surveyor kindly recommended in the next door forum), she's in decent condition, but I've got a list of things that need to be done now, and things that will need to be done over the next season or two.

I have never owned any boat, let alone a wooden boat, before and obviously maintenance is going to become a significant part of my life so I'd like to learn how to do it properly. Anyone got any suggestions where to start?

I've found 'Wooden Boat Restoration and Repair', the West System book, which looks really useful but is obviously built around selling their epoxy. Anything else I should read?

Thanks

Will

 

[Forbsie]

The Boat Repair Manual by George Buchanan is an excellent book to start you off. I got my copy through Abe Books in the States.

 

[tidclacy]

Books

Try these

Boat Joinery and Cabinetmaking by Fred P. Bingham

Boat owners weekend woodworking by Garth Graves

Boat repairs and conversions by Michael Verney

Wooden Boats restoration and Maintenance manual by John Scarlett

Boatbuilding by Howard I. Chapelle

Boat building techniques by Richard Birmingham

Clinker boatbuilding by John Leather

Planking and Fastening the wooden boat series

Painting and Varnishing the wooden boat series

Some are out of print but are still available through Amazon

 

[Cloona]

keep the paint work up - sail the boat as much as possible - keep her afloat -

 

[Keith 66]

Its a wooden boat, dont cover it in epoxy unless its to sheath a plywood deck.
Dont use silicone rubber & dont put of the maintenance until tomorrow.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

Hi Will
Welcome to the wonderful world of Folkboat maintenance. If you visit The Wooden Boat Forum you will find a wonderful thread, more of a blog really started by a Kiwi who is restoring a folkboat in California. Very informative. You might also consider some formal training; I did the five day Traditional Boat Restoration course at the BBA in Lyme Regis a year or so after acquiring Border Maid. Not cheap but very worthwhile and good fun. I learned a lot from that and particularly learned when it may be wise to pay for professional help!

 

[Seanick]

Glad to see you have sussed out the West handbook-how to repair using epoxy and nothing else!
We really use polyurethene now, and only use epoxy for sheathing decks.

Maintaing your FB should just be about good husbandry. A few tips........

Get her out of the water around the end of Oct, and back in by Easter. Any later and she may dry out and you will have a bit of pumping to do before she takes up.

Even if you have an ali mast, get it down straight away. erect a ridgepole and fit a cover that comes down to the water line. The cover should be white, and not blue or green.

Remove interior gear, lift sole boards, scrub interior and bilge. Lay up engine, prime any bare bits of timber exposed by nthe pressure washer. Leave a wash board out and crack open the forehatch.

Come spring, rub rub down and two coats on the varnishwork, more if it was bare timber.
Topsides rub down, patch undercoat and gloss if req.
Bottom, patch prime and antifoul.

Interior. Do a complete scrub from deck head to bilge.

Service engine, put the rig back in, bend on the sails and stow the ridgepole and cover for use in 6 months time.

Have a good cockpit cover that extends to the mast and covers the coachroof to reduce maint to the bright work on the coachroof.

We offer advice, when asked, to all our customers. Any yard with wooden boat skills s
should do the same.

ENJOY DOING IT !

 

[Simon_and_Tanja]

Go Sailing

Intereresting booklist - I have a few but like the sound of some of the others.

Only a few years ahead of OP in terms of learning but if anything I recommend, tackling the jobs as early as possible and be practical with your expectations - a decent job done soon is much cheaper/better/easier than a perfect job done later.

Above all remember it is a boat - for sailing - and not an object d'art. Extend your sailing season as long as possible, sail as much as possible, and work little and often to keep the maintenance down to enjoyable levels. Take it out at the end of November and get it back in as early as you can. (I've been in for a fortnight already). The best cosseting you can provide is to leave it on a well sheltered buoy or mud berth when you're not using it in the truly foul winter weather.

If all else fails get a decent bilge pump

 

[idw]

Thanks!

I like these forums. You put a question in a cask, let it mature slowly, and come back to a series of very palatable answers Thank you all for the very helpful advice, I'm sure I'll be asking more specific questions in due course.

I particularly like the advice about actually sailing her. Fortunately, she's a boat not a project (so long as I keep her that way) so I plan to be on the water as much as possible.

 

[Boo2]

Its a wooden boat, dont cover it in epoxy unless its to sheath a plywood deck.

Au contraire : glass her up, dip her in a vat of epoxy, cut a few notches and send in a team of specially trained toledo worms to hollow her out. Then pump in airex foam and seal over to complete. Presto ! Your worries are over !
</kidding>

Dont use silicone rubber

Seriously, why not silicone rubber ?

Boo2

 

[Seanick]

Au contraire : glass her up, dip her in a vat of epoxy, cut a few notches and send in a team of specially trained toledo worms to hollow her out. Then pump in airex foam and seal over to complete. Presto ! Your worries are over !
</kidding>



Seriously, why not silicone rubber ?

Boo2

Silicone rubber contaminates surrounding coatings, and make s further coating with any success very hard.
Save it for the bath or sink.