Wet rot propagation time.

[jamie N]

I've discovered some wet rot on an upper bulkhead, where my cabin 'reduces' in height; a step if you like on the deck above the 'saloon' (she's a Folkboat, so saloon with a small 's'). The wet rot's been removed, and was around about a foot long, and 4 inches in height, on wood about an inch in thickness, coming from a leak/weep between the step and the cabin coach roof. The leak's now been cured, and once the boat's lifted out in 3 weeks, I'll do the repair to this area. I'm intriqued though, about how long it would have taken for this wood to become rotten, as the fault looks to have been a manufacturing error, which would be from the 1960's. I'm unable to state which type of wood it is, I think that it's a hardwood, but am hopeless at ID'ing this sort of stuff.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

No experience of rot on boats (mine's plastic!) but in churches wet or dry rot can spread like wildfire, and has a nasty habit of coming back after being treated. Usually the only complete remedy is to replace ALL affected wood, well beyond the area obviously affected. The main body of the fungi of rot is actually very tiny fibres (hyphae) that spread within the wood; what you see on the exterior is only the "fruiting bodies" that only appear once the hyphae are well-established in the underlying wood.

 

[jamie N]

Thanks, that's very interesting. I'll give it another coat of looking at, and then probably more Acetone, even though the remaining wood is only the 'hard stuff', then take a rain check (sic) on it.

 

[tillergirl]

I agree with AP's comments but dry rot is many many times worse than wet rot. When I lift the original teak deck I replaced a large area of the starboard beam shelf and half beams. But there was also some softness at the top of some of the CRE steamed ribs. I cut out the softness and very liberally soaked the ends of the remainer of the ribs with Ronseal Wet Rot removal. The additional work is irrelevant to your problem but I did that in 1996 and everything is still nice and hard. Of course the replaced deck has been 100% watertight over where the ribs were damaged. It was clear there was wet rot in the damaged part of the beam shelf; was the top of the ribs just soft or actually suffering from wet rot. I cannot be say whether the stage they had reached.

Perhaps I ought to show the awfulness:



But better

[URL=http://s217.photobucket.com/user/rgaspar_album/media/DSC00561.jpg.html]

And 20 years later I would allege she is fine:

[URL=http://s217.photobucket.com/user/rgaspar_album/media/P1050931.jpg.html]

 

[jamie N]

Thanks for the pics; that's a BIG job that been done there!
I had a look yesterday at my area, after the wood hardener's been on for a week. The wood's hard and the leak that had caused the wet isn't evident, even after the fairly extreme weather at times for a couple of days on the trot. Once the boat's on land for the winter, I'll get into rebuilding and filling the area.

 

[Woodlouse]

Wet rot requires the wood to be almost saturated before it can take hold and spread so removing the affected timber and keeping the remaining wood dry should stop it returning too soon.

Dry rot is a devil, but it requires a very particular environment in which to flourish, too wet or too dry and it just can't take hold. Ventilation is the key to preventing it.

 

[tillergirl]

Yes, I agree it was a big job. But she was worth it and actually good fun and satisfying.

Woodlouse is spot on. Once she is dry I am sure it will be fine. There has been absolutely no problems with the top of those ribs once it was sorted and it will sort for you.