Re-Berth

[Tacit]

I have been advised to put this post, originally up on practical boat forum so here goes:

Good evening all, I am on a quest for inspiration and knowledge, I have recently acquired a Thompson T24, 10hp Bukh inboard, that is now fairly empty of the mush that was her previous internals and awaits some fresh wood, I have some questions as you can imagine! Is BS 1088 marine ply acceptable material for redoing bulkheads?, I intend to re-deck her with Iroko, 12-15 mm boards on ordinary beams, cotton wool-turpentine-bees wax caulking, beaten in, and Jefferies Marine glue No2 in between the boards, What is the optimum width of board for a 24ft boat, should the boards be square edged or angled at say 100-120 degrees? whats the optimum gap between boards, sprung or straight? can the cabin roof and sides also be made of Iroko?

After I have cleared out the insides, what do I scrub the internal hull with? seems to me that wet/dry/rot fungus have been spreading about the boat?, What do I paint the inside of the boat with, the outside is blister free and no osmosis, good gel coat and only need cleaning. Any help would be appreciated!

The Bukh was "born" (delivered) on 12/12/80 and hand turns and looks like she will go well again, any spares out there? she need an alternator,

no doubt more questions will arise,

any advise is welcome, as the man said

there is not a moment to loose!

 

[alan006]

Good evening, there are a lot of points here so I'll try some of the easier ones and leave the others for the experts.
a) BS1088 covers a very wide range of plywood, ranging from pretty average upwards. With marine ply I think you get what you pay for so take care with this.
b) Jefferies glue is good for sealing decks. I'm told its very important to use two pourings, don't try to do it in one pouring.
c) I'm sure someone can help you with the board size, I don't feel thats something I can help with.
d) I like to use Cuprinol 5 star for treating suspect timber. It might not be the cheapest way but people who I've spoke to have been pleased with it.
e) I'm a great fan of Iroko, so I don't see why you can't use it for the cabin roof and sides. One of the good things about Iroko is that it is available in large plank sizes. I'm told the old timers call it the poor man's teak.
I hope this helps and I'm sure you will get more help here.
Good luck.

 

[nmiller]

Hi
12 to 15 mm sounds awfy thin for a laid deck, depending on the spacing of the deck beams 25 mm would be more normal. 12 mm would be OK glued down to a ply subdeck, in which case you should not caulk with cotton, but use epoxy with lamp black or something like Sicaflex.
I have never heard of using turps and beeswax with caulking cotton, I would have thought that the wax would have caused the stopping to fail. Comments anyone?
The planks should be about 50 to 75 mm wide, and if conventionally caulked fitted tight over the bottom 1/3 with a tapering seam formed by beveling the remaining 2/3.

 

[ccscott49]

One or two comments from me, do not use jeffries, it's an abomination! There are far better more modern materials, such as sikaflex.
12-15mm is way too thin for a laid deck, fine for a deck laid on ply on the deckbeams and will be a better way round anyway, on 24 feet.
If you must go laid, go for at least 25mm. I have also never heard of beeswax and turps on caulking cotton, but thats not to say it isnt done.

 

[Strathglass]

Bukh spares are readily available but they are VERY expensive. An alternator will run into many, many hundreds of pounds. Saying that they are very good and specifically designed and manufactured for marine use.

I use Iroko a lot and find it a very cost effective substitute for teak.

Try and find a copy of the Gaff rigged book by John Leather. It will tell you what you need to know (If you can find one)
I found it very usefull when rebuilding an old wooden one rater.

Cheers

Iain

 

[alan006]

Englander has a fair point about Jeffries glue. Compared to modern mastics it is not in the same class. My old pilot boat was sealed with Jeffries glue and eventually I took it all out and replaced it with a Polyeurathane mastic. It was expensive because you have to buy it by the box full for a job the size of the deck, the Jeffries glue is simple to apply and wonderfully cheap which is of course in its favour. The old boys I spoke to said that the Jeffries glue was ok on the fishing boats that were working every day as the decks got seawater on them every day keeping them nice and tight. If you have it on a leisure boat thats not getting the same use it is not so good.(I suppose you could rig up a deck wash system) The other problem with Jeffries glue is that on a very hot day it will go soft and you can walk it around your nice clean boat.

 

[oldharry]

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8851/img0707pg9.jpg


If you have it on a leisure boat thats not getting the same use it is not so good.(I suppose you could rig up a deck wash system)


Aha - so thats what the navy was up to...... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Tacit]

Thanks guys,

your opinions and expertise are very welcome, all advice helps towards the final decisions and I'm almost there!

re the Jeff glue, sounds about just what I heard from othes, the Beeswax and turps pretreat the timbers (iroko decking) before the cotton goes in.

Thanks for the Bukh advice

more to come

Tacit