Re-paintina a wooden boat

[barryassheton]

Hi, My uncle has just aquired a wooden boat that needs taking out the water and stripping re caulking, painting and anti fouling. I have been told taking the boat out the water for too long could cause problems in putting it back in due to the wood drying out. I have also been told the wood would need to be dry to paint it. So I am not sure what to do, the boat has to come out of the water to paint it and re caulk it but will it leak like a sieve when we put it back in the water. Also I was told it might be best to paint it put it back in the water then anti foul once the wood has soaked the water again. I am new to wooden boat repairs, so I would be grateful of any advice.


Thanks Barry

 

[Tranona]

Welcome to the forum

Your general observations are correct. However, the amount of movement, opening up of seams etc depends very much on the type of construction, the wood used and how sound the fastenings are.

If the boat is already painted and just needs refinishing then you are unlikely to experience much movement if you just have it out for a couple of weeks, preferrably in cool weather. If, however, you plan to strip it back to bare wood you need to be prepared for some movement. Drying out can be reduced by keeping it under cover out of direct sunlight. The norm when doing the full job is to caulk the seams that have opened up, put the boat back in the water and deal with any caulking that squeezes out later. Helpful to finish topsides in a light colour as dark colours absorb heat.

There is masses of published material on maintaining wooden boats. Classic Boat and Watercraft are good sources of information as is the US Wooden Boat magazine. Search the Classic Boat forum as there are plenty of threads on these topics. For painting, all the major suppliers provide data sheets and information on how to use their products.

You will find that if your boat is structurally sound, once you have put the effort into getting it up to scratch, maintenance is much less than you imagine. However let it go and you are back into more work!

 

[barryassheton]

Thanks for the reply. The boat is not too bad below the water line but some planks have rotted on the edges and have opened up abit so I can see through. From what I can tell is carvel planking.

So I should caulk it put it in the water then paint if everything is ok or do the entire job before putting back in the water. Sorry if I sound unsure but I only plan to take it out the water for a couple of weeks and need to get all the work on the hull done in that time so I need to be sure on my plan of action before starting.

Thanks Barry

 

[Tranona]

If the planks really have rotted at the edges then doubt that just re-caulking would do. Normal practice in carvel planking is for there to be a chamfer on both plank edges forming a V shaped seam. Then caulking cotton is put into the bottom of the V and the seam filled with putty type filler. That way the planks can expand and contract without leaking.

If the edges are damaged it may not be possible to make up the gap with caulking and if the damage is rot it may not be sound enough to hold the caulking. So I guess the first thing you need to do is clean off the damaged areas and assess whether repairs are needed to the wood.

There are ways of repairing this type of damage, but they are not at the "beginners" end of the spectrum. They are covered in some of the books on wood boat maintenance, but it may be worth getting an experienced wood boatbuilder to look at it before diving in.

If it does turn out that local re-caulking is all that is needed then completely re-paint it, using conventional yacht paint. When it is back in the water and the seams do close up it will show as lines where the filler has squeezed out. You can rub those down when you re-paint the next time.