losing the battle

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gary3029

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Poole Dorset
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Well it looks like I have lost the battle. For some reason my cabin sides are developing splits in the wood, which is of course splitting the varnish and making it look a right mess. The problems have developed since moving to my poole mooring, I think because it is now more exposed to sunlight. I had some other dark wood on the boat which was splitting so painted a light colour....problem solved no more splitting. My varnished cabin sides now show all the repairs and does not look that good so I am going to paint the sides. What can I fill these splits with, they are fine splits,The wood is iroka and is about 1.5 inches thick. I know there are the purists out there who say wood should be varnished, but in my mind if it does not look so good a paint job would look better and reflect the sun better.
 
I have had good results with any of the "Timber Fill" type products that are in the same form as car body filler, ie. a paste and a hardener.

Tetrion Woodfill is good, and so is this, but it takes a little longer to go off.

http://www.avenuesupplies.net/index.php?...ing+Filler+Wood

All are water proof, and are flexible to move with the wood, they don't shrink or crack, but must be applied to dry timber.

You're right, they will probably be jumping out of the wood work in a minute to call you all kinds of heathens! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Hey! it's your boat, so you do what you feel is right for you.

Personally I wouldn't go this route if I felt there was another way, but without seeing the problem I wouldn't be prepared to pontificate! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

There are ways to deal with it, maybe, if the problem is due to the timber drying out and shrinking, but...........
 
You heathen!!!!!! How can you own a wooden boat and give up on the quest for the perfect varnished finish? Inch and half cabin sides is pretty impressive though.

Actually there was a guy at Heybridge who built his own 36ft ketch and he had no varnish on her at all. Right from new he painted the 'brightwork' a kind of golden brown. He claimed to have researched the colour but whatever he was right - up until about 10 ft away you couldn't tell it wasn't varnish.
 
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I use Poteé du Tonkinois for cracks etc and paint it with UV resistant Le Tonkinois Vernis No1 afterwards. Quite easy to work with.

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All sounds like foreign muck ta me! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Lots of people seem to rave about Coelean, but to me it seems to be very expensive, and doesn't last that much longer than any of the other varnishes. I would let the iroko stabilise for a year or two, and then cut a tapered spline (obviously from Iroko). Tap the spline into the crack with epoxy, let it cure and then plane / sand / scrape flush, and varnish it with a traditional type varnish. I definitely would not fill it with any sort of artificial filler - it won't stop it cracking further, and it will be a pain to sort out in the future. (And it is never the right colour!).
 
I agree about the coelan. It is very expensive for what it is and probably won't sort out the problem. I used it for coating my hatch as it claimed to be very elastic and resistant to the constant change in size of the wood. However it was rubbish! and I still have a leaky hatch. Have you tried an old fashioned idea of coating it in linseed oil mixed with an antifungal such as cuprinol. I have 1 and a quarter inch iroko cabin sides and this stabilises the wood and stop it cracking further. Varnish is banned from my boat and everything is oiled. Really easy to keep up - just splash a bit around every couple of months. looks better than cracked varnish or paint by miles!
 
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