which wood - and a couple of other things

[Chris_Jam]

My boat ( E26 Galatea ) is being lifted out next weekend and there are a number of jobs I need to do.

1) During the recent storms she broke free and swung round onto a steel pile and rubbed a large gap in the rubbing strake - which is what they are for but I now have to replace a section of it. This gives me a couple of things to ponder......

a) how do I get the dowel plugs out
b) do I replace with the same timber ( oak ) or do I take the opportunity to
do both sides with something else if so what?? the oak did seem break up
easily - perhaps it is not suited to that task.

This brings me to the gunwhale/toerail which also needs to be replaced, it is rotten, again it is of oak would something else be more suitable I thought that good quality pine would be ok - it would be easier to bend thats for certain and given lots of coats of varnish it should stand up to the environment.

Why are wooden cleats so expensive??? - I whittled and sanded a lump of beech this afternoon and produced a very good looking and workable cleat, I have enough for the six that I need and this will save me about £120.00 - it will be so nice to get rid of the plastic ones.

I have only had the boat for one season and last year just befor lift in I painted the decks with garage floor paint ( anti slip ) which has worked very well and only cost £20 for 5 litres but it only came in dark grey. Does anyone know of a brand with different colours.

I had better stop here or I will go on for ever.

Chris-J

 

[ccscott49]

You will have to drill the plugs out, very carefully! Rubbing strakes are good in oak, Oak is a hard wearing timber normally. You could look around for some gum wood, it's cheap hard wearing stuff, instead of the oak. Toerails I would do in Iroko, it does bend, with a little persuasion, ahem! hard wearing and almost maintenance free like teak, but very much cheaper, I wouldn't use pine, unless you can get hold of some pitch pine. Wooden cleats are expensive, because daft buggers buy them! I bought one, took a lump of recovered teak (from the london underground), to a little chap in portugal, who made me six for 12 quid. Thats a little more like it. He also made me some grab handles, for not a lot more, all you need is a spindle moulder and you can knock them out in their hundreds for next to nowt!

 

[aztec]

and as for the garage floor paint (my department now!) B&Q do varoius colours, and the quality's not bad, i painted my old tender a sort of pea green colour... them sank it 'cos my mates took the piss! owl and pusseycat my arse!!

good luck, steve.

 

[Peterduck]

A good way to remove plugs without damaging the timber around them is to drill a small pilot hole down to the screw beneath and insert a woodscrew and screw it in. when it gets down to the screw, keep on screwing. It will break up the plug without damaging the surrounding timber.
If you were here in Oz I would suggest Ironbark, which would make the steel pile wince! I am told that in your part of the world Holly is very tough, but of course it doesn't grow in any large sizes.
Peter.

 

[Plum]

Stay with oak for the rubbing strake - probably the most hard wearing and weather resistant wood easily available in the UK. My other choice would be Iroko - not quite as hard, but a bit more weather-durable. Jacking the plugs out with a wood screw or self tapper, as already suggested, is a very good tip, but if the person that put then in used glue then this may not work. Try it on one to see. If the plugs are glued and do not come clean, then you will have to drill them out with a "lip & spur" drill - stop as soon as you feel the drill hit the screw-head - probably with a drill larger than the old plugs. Buy a taper plug cutter of the same size as the drill and make your own plugs from offcutts of the new rubbbing strip to match - and DONT glue them in. Smear them with varnish.

I would use Iroko for the toe-rails.

Cleats: I agree - make your own, but why not use the oak from the old rubbing strip?

 

[Caronia]

errmm! recovered teak from the London Underground? how like you to drop an enticing little nugget of information like that. Is the source still current? where does one apply to get some?

 

[ccscott49]

Sorrrrry, it's all gone now. Most of it stored away for future use. Burmese, straight grained, not a knot to be seen!

 

[Strathglass]

Chris
Do you need to preserve the removed wood? You really need to preserve the hull.
In your circumstances I would cut across at the place I didn't want to remove it from.
Then I would be quite brutal.
Split the rubbing strip with a chisel at each plug/screw Then just lift it off. Any screws can then easily be removed using mole wrenches if necessary.
It may appear messy but the hull will be undamaged and the rubbing strip will be a pile of firewood so what?

Iain

 

[bryantee]

agree with ian ,tried to take the old split u shaped rubbing strips off the rival.by drilling the plugs out.waste of time the answer was a cold chisel and mallet.split them in line with the screws.took an hour and a bit,recovered most of the screws as well.replaced with iroko in two strips one rubbing strip capped with a toe rail .take it a bit at a time and loads of clamps to bend the toe rail.
good luck

 

[Chris_Jam]

splitting the wood with a chisel makes a lot of sense to me ...... thanks for that

 

[Maurice55]

And don't even think about using beech for any thing out-side, it'll rot in no time !

 

[John_Rawson]

Sorry I know nothing of B & Q but I cant imagine painting a tender with anti slip paint. If you mix a little white of a compatible paint type then the dark grey will soon turn to a mid grey or even a light grey without too much loss of the anti slip properties. Iroko would appear to be the best choice of easily obtainable timber in that part of the world. Ironbark would be ideal though.