Linseed and Turpentine?

pauls_SPT

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Hiya,

I'm restoring a double-diagonal teak built Seaplane Tender (probably a Walton Yacht Works boat from about 1935 - if anybody can help with info, I'd be very appreciative) and I'm stripping the layers and layers of ancient, multicoloured paint from the hull. I was told by an "old salt" (beard, oilers, pipe etc) that I should "paint" the hull with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine once I was back to the wood.

Is that right? And if it is, in what proportions should I mix this unlikely potion? What does it do?

Any help will be much appreciated,

All the best,

Paul
 

Mirelle

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It's a good, old fashioned, wood preservative mixture.

The poster girl for it is the 1860-built Itchen Ferry cutter "Fanny of Cowes", still winning races today.

Every stick of wood in the boat was saturated with it when she was built.

Basically, it stabilises the wood and stops it expanding and contracting and limits the moisture intake.

However, it is very expensive, glue does not like it at all, and I don't think that teak needs it, as teak is an oily wood in any case, which is why it is so dimensionally stable. I have a 1937 built teak boat and the teak bits are as good as new, save where I've damaged them!

A thinned coat of any modern wood primer will do as well, I reckon.
 

Poignard

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There is a recipe in "Clinker Boatbuilding" by John Leather. I have temporarily [?] mislaid my copy so can`t look it up for you.

Seem to remember a seaplane tender at Brooklands Museum a few years ago. It was outside under a lean-to. Is that the one you are restoring?
 

pauls_SPT

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Thanks chaps,

Does teak require any special primer or paint? I'm wondering if the oilyness of the wood will prevent some paints from "sticking"...

My boat isn't the one from Brooklands (where is that, btw?) - it's been languishing in the mud of the Penryn River in Cornwall for at least the last thirty years and now lives partially in a bush in Ponsharden Shipyard...

Paul
 

Mirelle

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In my experience, after owning teak boats for 34 years now, the answer is "no", but some "experts" will tell you different, espescially if they are trying to sell you something expensive.
 

Poignard

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I don`t know answer to that because I have never painted teak but Blakes or International could advise you.
On second thoughts I might be mistaken about the boat at Brooklands Aviation Museum [west of London ,near Cobham], it was very light and might have been intended to be carried by a Sunderland or something like that. This museum might be able to provide info on your boat. Good luck with it.
 

cliffordpope

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There is a difference between boiled and raw linseed oil. The former dries on exposure to air, and is the basic ingredient of paint and varnish. (To speed up drying other driers are usually added) Raw oil never dries, so I think is better for lubricating things rather than painting them.
Turpentine is for thinning paint or varnish, so I assume its function in this concoction is simply to thin the linseed oil to make it soak in better. It then evaporates, letting the linseed oil dry.
I don't think either is terribly expensive - no more so than paint, of which they are a major constituent- especially if bought in bulk.
 

trouville

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Boiled linseed oil stays sticky when walm (summer in the med)

White spirt will do to thin the linseed oil but dosent smell so nice!!!(i use raw linseed oil when i need to, it also drys but has a better colour until it oxidises--black!!

And Teak dose rot and dry out! It may be teak (real teak not red ) but needs just as much care as pitch pine or oak, its still wood and longterm even in salt water needs care and protection.
 

cliffordpope

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Does linseed oil have any special preservative properties, or is it just that virtually anything oily in the wood will stop water soaking in instead?
I've sometimes wondered about diluting linseed oil a bit with B&Q wood preserver instead of just plain white spirit or turps.
 

trouville

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if you use wood preserver you will create an unfreindly situation.It kills everything including you. I never forget when a rent a kill rep died of multiple cancer,When your makeing a living that seems good?? not everone is careful.

Dont use it! linseedoil and natural turpentine. or white spirt-product well known dont wash your hands with it and dont breath while useing it!!
 

Poignard

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Good point! I once made myself feel quite ill spraying Cuprinol in a confined space. Ulcers in the mouth, sore eyes etc.
It contains something very nasty which is banned in the USA, it`s called Pentachloraphenol I think.
 

cliffordpope

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Well, yes, I can see that that would apply if used in a confined space without proper precautions, and obviously as a "liveaboard" you would be especially aware of that.
But we are talking about external application and use here - ie hull. I don't think garden sheds are regarded as health hazzards, and they are pre-treated with preservatives.
I had wooden decks in mind.
I'd quite like it to be unfriendly actually, at least to rot! Isn't antifouling rather unfriendly too, if applied without proper precautions? That's the point, surely?
 

Spuddy

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I've found that boiled does dry out in this country. White spirit is OK and acts as a carrier then evaporates. Therefore the proportions are not really critical - I'd guess that no more than 1/3 spirit would get it sploshy enough.
As to application - for furniture, the procedure was once a day for a week. once a week for a month, once a ...etc
Important - the oil reacts with oxygen and can smoulder - fires have been known. Simple precaution is to spread rags out or leave brushes in the open.
If twere me I'd use decent primer below the waterline. Don't be mislead by remarks about "feeding the wood". It's dead but does need protecting.
 

ccscott49

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If the hull is teak, you are wasting time and money, teak will not absorb any kind of oil, even under pressure. I know lots will say it will, but it wont, not further than the very surface layer, less then .05mm. Clean it up and apply a good paint system. It also takes a very long time for teak to rot, a very long time!! Your boat will be built of real teak, not plantation, which is fine for decorative stuff and garden furniture, but not a lot of use for proper boat building. My boat is teak and in 40 years, theres no rot in her atall.
 

MIKE_MCKIE

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re ccscott49.
Sunderlands, shackletons etc used to somteimes carry a 27' long hot moulded sailing boat for dropping to downed airmen during the war. They were called "Airborne lifeboats" A lot were "liberated" by RAF personnel after the war & my Dad had one in Gibraltar when we lived there in the late 40's/early 50's. It was originally gunter rigged, fully decked with small gunwales & watertight lockers for stores. They literally "bombed" it from parent plane so hull had millimetre ply frames at about 8" centres throughout the boat for rigidity & strength. As an 8 y/o I was shoved down one of the hatches with a padsaw to cut all the frame centres out, just leaving about 6" width round the hull/deck. Ours was called Redwing & there were about 6 in the RAF Sailing club at North Front. They were given new sails courtesy of my Mother & her sewing machine, they used the sailing club as a sail loft! They raced as a class for some years & several were still there when I called at Gib after joining the Merchant Navy in 1959. Design was by Uffa Fox & hull form pre dated all the big racers of today, like the open 60's etc. It would plane in the lightest of breezes & was a fabulous sail. Don't mind saying I cried when we left Gib to come back to UK, we had to leave Redwing behind. (Mind I was only 9 at the time!)
 
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