Bajansailor
Well-known member
I was down at the haul out yard here recently, and saw this timber 'ice boat' ashore for repairs, and thought I would take a few photos.
(An ice boat is a vessel with a big insulated ice box in the cockpit - typically with at least 4" of foam all around, and capable of carrying a few tonnes of ice, such that the boat can stay at sea for 10 days easily.
Whereas a 'day boat' is a vessel that just goes out for the day, returning in the afternoon, with no ice box).
The hull planking is probably Silver Balli, and the frames and floors are sawn local Mahogany. And it is quite probable that these rotten frames are less than 10 years old - it would appear that most of these timber boats require fairly significant plank and (especially) timber replacement every few years.
Sacrilege I know to use Mahogany for this purpose, especially as they never seem to last very long - they have to operate in a very hot, damp and humid atmosphere without good ventilation - but this has always been the traditional way of making frames and floors.........
I have tried suggesting to the builders that they need to improve the ventilation (especially in way of the timbers under the ice box and cockpit sole), and consider making up double sawn or even laminated frames, as they invariably always seem to crack in way of the turn of the bilge (although these have cracked a bit lower down), but nobody is interested.
(An ice boat is a vessel with a big insulated ice box in the cockpit - typically with at least 4" of foam all around, and capable of carrying a few tonnes of ice, such that the boat can stay at sea for 10 days easily.
Whereas a 'day boat' is a vessel that just goes out for the day, returning in the afternoon, with no ice box).
The hull planking is probably Silver Balli, and the frames and floors are sawn local Mahogany. And it is quite probable that these rotten frames are less than 10 years old - it would appear that most of these timber boats require fairly significant plank and (especially) timber replacement every few years.
Sacrilege I know to use Mahogany for this purpose, especially as they never seem to last very long - they have to operate in a very hot, damp and humid atmosphere without good ventilation - but this has always been the traditional way of making frames and floors.........
I have tried suggesting to the builders that they need to improve the ventilation (especially in way of the timbers under the ice box and cockpit sole), and consider making up double sawn or even laminated frames, as they invariably always seem to crack in way of the turn of the bilge (although these have cracked a bit lower down), but nobody is interested.
