Taking Up, varnishing, opinions

Lakesailor

Lakesailor

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OK Men,
My recently acquired little clinker dinghy has been out of the water with a bare bottom for 2 years (at least).
I've used 2 coats of International UCP (Universal Clear Primer) on the bottom and a coat of International Original Varnish on that. (Not recommended for below the waterline, but I am going to dry sail the boat).

Here is the quandry. As the boat will need to take up quite a bit, would I be better having her in the water a bit before applying any more varnish (3 coats is the recommendation)?
I'm thinking that will allow more wetting of the wood at the plank edges. If I load the clinker joints with varnish it will probably only crack as the wood moves anyway.
When the boat has taken up I could dry it a bit and add more coats.

What do the team think?



shinybottom.jpg
 
There seems to be a mis-match between your intention to dry sail your boat and the need for her planks to take-up in order to keep her watertight - surely you can only sensibly have one or the other.
 
I would be concerned that a hard ridge of varnish would prevent the lands swelling to meet each other. I have been told that grains of sand and grit between the lands can have this effect.
One old boy suggested plugging gaps with soap. As the wood swelled the soap was sqeezed out.
Another friend who dry sails a clinker dinghy has run a very thin bead of sikkaflex under the lands below the waterline. Practically invisible but watertight and flexible.
 
Have to agree with riverboatman, the planks will not take up if you dry sail it, wont be in the water long enough!
OK, as for the other thing, I use for my clinker dinghy epifanes, lots of coats, run into the clinker lands thin and built up to 8-10 coats.
Plus when you've finished playing with it can I have it? Would be prepared to pay a small sum, what length is he?
Also did you solve the woodworm in the transom? I would cut it out, kill the woodworm and put some splines in the transom, sand it all down well, until the colour comes back to the Mahogany, stain and varnish, the splines would all but disappear.
It would match my McNulty on the foredeck!
 
I agree. I dry sailed mine, or at least I used her as a tender, so she was on trailer most of the time. I also had the problem of having had sand in the lands for years. I epoxy coated the bottom with highly thinned epoxy (30/70 acetone/epoxy) until the timber stopped absorbing it, and then sikaflexed the seams. All of them. The inside was done with deks olje, as I didn't want the struggle of doing around all the ribs with varnish. She remains pretty tight 5 years on, although I still have issues around the transom.

Dry sailing a traditionally built clinker, isn't going to work, IMHO.
 
The soap is quite correct and in the old days we used to take the new boats to be filled with linseed oil for a week and then drained. A charge was made for what was lost into the boat planking
 
I have a Traditional Thames Skiff that I kept on a mooring for years with no problem. It is dry stored now. Those in the know recommend traditional varnish that will remain flexible as the boat will flex as you move it about. Mine being 23 ft by 4ft flexes quite a bit as you can imagine. So loads of varnish and keep building up the layers. My local boat builder/restorer uses epifanes and nothing else. ie no sikaflex
Looking good so far, happy sailing
 
Hmm. I take your points about drying out. But I intend to keep her on the launch trolley on the shore. The local boatmen keep their clinker char boats like that and have done for many years. One guy I know has had a char boat on the shore for more than 40 years, in fact the guy I bought the dinghy from has a char boat a few down from my landing. Keeping them on the shore keeps them pretty moist (this is the Lake District remember).
The mention of drying out and wetting are relative. The boat has been in a dry garage for over 2 years and is dry as a bone at the moment. After wetting the inside and then putting on the lake for a couple of days (in a couple of feet of water) moisture will get back into the wood. I have only put one coat of varnish on for the very reason you all mention that the movement may be effected. I am thinking if there is a problem I will rake out the joints and try a thin bead of Sika as suggested.
Local opinion is to paint the underwater sections after the clear primer, but I'd rather have a slightly leaky boat than one with a painted bottom. I have blasted the worm with Cuprinol injected solution. It's amazing, you squirt into one hole and it comes out of another.

This guy, Ian, dry sails this boat from a launch trolley down at the south end of the lake and has done for years.

Ian01.jpg
 
He's not daft he gets one half wet each time.

Going back to your original point. Where you intending to leave her in the water for a while? You don't want it too wet. This time of year it would take some water from the atmosphere any way. I would give it a few coats inside and out and use it. See how it goes.
 
I was just about to go out and buy some more varnish, but the Postman (remember them?) just arrived and, lo-and-behold, a package with some Blakes Favourite varnish arrived along with a vinyl boat-name from a forumite I'd helped with something.

Many thanks, you know who you are.
 
Yes, good point, I'll go for a bit of a sail and see how much she leaks. If it's pouring in I'll moor her in a little wet dock/slipway area in about a foot or so of water. Appropriately enough it's where Esperance (Captain Flint's houseboat) is moored in the summer months.

A long as the gunwhales don't go under water I can easily bail her out, but I wasn't planning on getting her that full.
 
If you suspect it may poor in then turn her over and put a bit of water in and see where it comes out. Easier than trying to identify it by the water. I know I put my skiff in, went to get the sculls etc and came back to a boat half full. Won't be doing that again.

Slap that Blakes on and go sailing.

You know you want to.
 
When there was a fleet of YW Dayboats at Royal Gourock, several of the older owners swore by a mixture of linseed oil and Spinnaker varnish. The oil prevented the varnish from getting so hard and also caused a bit of swelling in the lands. Being a young tech-head, I used the latest two-part epoxy on mine. Now the Dayboats were kept on moorings and were all full of water whenever you went for a sail anyway (it rains a lot in Gourock) so we always had to start by pumping out. I noticed that I used to need to pump again during the race, after the windward legs. The difference between mine and the rest was that when they heeled over, no water came in. When mine heeled, most of the seams positively spouted. I think I resorted to Secomastic on all the seams above the waterline for the rest of the season
 
I know of a boatyard that sometimes hangs badly leaking dried out boats on strops from the crane to prevent total sinking. If the leaks are still bad after a few hours they sprinkle saw dust on the water and rock the boat, the sawdust gets into the seams and swells up. I cant remember a clinker boat being done this way as most are carvel constrction but it might help.
Stan
 
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