Sinking clinker

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miket

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I have at last found a little "putt-putt" to play with.
16 ft open launch, clinker mahogany on oak frames, small fore and aft decking and Stuart Turner P5M 2 stroke inboard. Reputedly built around 1960.
She has been out of the water on a trailer for about a year and I am anticipating leaving her on the trailer in the water for a couple of days to "take up".

Is there anything I can do whilst she is still out of the water to reduce the time taken for the timber to swell up and seal?
I had thought of 2 possibilities:
1. Wetted towels laid in the bilge.
2. A caulking (Sikaflex?) bead on each of the underwater planks.

Any advice from thos that know gratefully received.
 
Not sika as when the planks do swell she'll pull her fastners out.

Reckon the damp towels might give you a head start.

Decent pump I reckon is the answer.
 
Not Sikaflex.

"Traditional wisdom" suggests soft soap (honest!) but I've never bothered.

She'll stand a few gallons in the bilge, which will help the garboards and hog, and if you lay some old towels with their lower ends in the puddle up the rest of the bilges that will help too.

If you can leave her on a hard, or better still in a mud berth, for say 48 hours after launching, that also helps.
 
Stand the boat on a large builders tarpaulin or DPM and fasten it up the sides as tight as possible. Pour in a gallon or two of water.
BTW, I've never actually tried this, although I am contemplating testing mine by building a "wet-dock" out of shuttering secured around the trailer.
 
Your idea is the best. Just let her sit in water for a couple of days and let nature take its course. Putting wet towels inside will keep her wet AFTER she has taken up and needs to come ashore.
I would not use sikaflex anywhere other than on deck planks or bedding fixtires.

My sloop was ashore for 12 years - after recaulking etc etc I put her in the water and stood by with an automatic bilge pump. She is fine now after half a season in the water last year. She comes out for the 6 month winter.

good luck
 
Thanks to you all for the help.
I will cross Sikaflex off the list.
Funnily enough my wife jokingly suggested buying a kiddies paddling pool just long enough to take her 16 ft. Only draws 12 inches so I reckon it may not be so daft after all.
String the boat up to the garage rafters, remove the trailer, insert paddling pool and fill. Lower boat into pool !!
Must make a few phone calls to see if anyone does a 17 ft x 8 ft paddling pool!!
 
i'm with Ben on this, i would take her to the sea, launch, and let her take up.

sea water will help "pickle" the wood and kill rot spores.

fresh/rain water won't.... beleive me iv'e just spent weeks rebuilding the decks and beams on mine after rain water got under the cascovering... not nice.

hopefully i'm also looking at a 16 1/2ft clinker sailing launch, 1952.... bit of a restoration job coming on i think!
 
Having had all sorts of problems with a clinker built boat the best idea is to put her in the water having removed all damageable bits and pieces and let her sit there for a few days. A mud berth would be ideal.

I have got to the pitch now when my boat takes only about three hours to take up after launching but that is if I have only had her out for six months during the winter. Once, she was out for over nine months and I had to resort to bursting bags of sawdust underneath her to help her take up. That seemed to work!

The very best of luck with her.
 
I know that most people here are advising against Sika, but if you have a clinker tender that lives out of the water and is only launched every couple of weeks or less, you are always going to have problems with the boat taking up fast enough for you to use it.

You can store it with fresh water in it, but rot may become an issue. My Father used to add copper sulfate to the fresh water to help stop rot, but I am not sure that this worked in the long term, as I have since had to replace many planks and the stem!

Once I had done the rebuild, I raked out all the seams externally, then put on about 6 coats of heavily thinnned epoxy (about 50/50 epoxy/acetone). I finished off by filling the rebate with sika, and then varnished (above) and enamelled (below) the waterline.

Irregular use for the following 4 years, has given me a leak free clinker tender, that lives ashore with a cover, and gets used every couple of weeks through the season, before going back in a shed for the winter.

A note of warning. Sand in the bilges will make sure that a clinker boat never takes up, it works its way into the seams, and then grinds away. It sands away the joint, and the fine grains prevent the timber taking up properly. I had to remove large quantities when I rebuilt my tender.
 
Thinking further

Why would you leave her in the water on the trailer?

It won't do the trailer any good, and there is a rather good chance that she will float off and bump herself against the trailer, and do damage.

I'd leave her on the hard.

BTW, Stuarts are fairly "waterproof" if you take the electrics off.
 
Re: Thinking further

If you really want to pay up the seems.
I have 14ft clinker and I have used a very cheap builders gun goo "Plumber" the very much like a cross between mastic and putty it skins well on the out side takes paint etc and stays flexible and will squeeze out if it has to the boat had been out of the water for over 5 years we use her on the Macclesfield canal with a seagull OB put her in and pumped out about a gal of water over an 1 hr or so. She may not take as much water as you think but put her in salt water NOT fresh.
 
Re: Thinking further

I still like the idea of the paddling pool but perhaps I will add 3.5% salt to make it think (not sink) it is in sea water!!
I also like the idea of the plumbers goo.
Many thanks all.
 
Having resisted using a small bead of silkaflex in the seams of our 21ft clinker (out of the water for at least 4 years) I finaly caved in to the advise to put a small bead just on the sema. The theory being that as the wood took up it would push the silkaflex out - it worked.

Also don't be afraid of putting the boat in the water - our boat managed to float almost full of water AND with the trailer still firmly attached to her.

We spent the first two tides (we are on a drying mud flat) assisting the bilge pump with buckets and the hand bilge pump.

She finally took up after about 6 weeks. On her return to the water this year - you'd think she'd never been on dry land.

go for it - take a deep breath and put her in the water - best of luck
 
I can't think why no-one has suggested saw dust. A bucket full of sawdust under the boat (you'll have to fix the bucket to a broom handle) as you launch will help keep the water out until she takes up on her own accord. Only one thing to keep in mind - the saw dust comes out when you move the boat. It therefore isn't very effective in a river with tide or current and it's only a short term fix until the planking takes up.

Most effective..... and usually free! OF
 
Every year they relaunch the char boats in Bowness Bay for the robo hire after winter storage. They just let them fill up and have a Honda pump running. As each boat fills to the gunwhales they pop the strumbox into it and empty it. They take a day or two to take up.
I'd remove the motor and adopt the same technique. I'd forget the trailer. I had my tender damaged in the storms by it's launch trolley.

LittlesteamboatMay3.jpg
 
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