Wood epoxy as a material.

[moondancer]

I am going to look at a 1/4 tonner made out of 'wood/epoxy' in 1975. The boat is well known locally and was, I think, professionally built. Could anyone shed any light on this material and give any tips on what to look for.

Regards

Brian

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[oldsaltoz]

G'day Brian,

This sounds like a timber boat that has been glassed over with epoxy, tho some were designed to be sheeted with glass/epoxy even that long ago.

A timber boat glassed over will be heavy so don't expect great performance, a craft designed to be glassed over will much lighter and perform better.

A moisture test would be my fist check, if you find any, just remember it can be a very expensive job to remove it, in some cases the wet timber has to removed and replaced, in others a good dry out and treatment with more epoxy will fix it.

Look for shallow dents that cover an area of 6 inches or more, any moisture in these areas is a good indication the timber has rotted and will need replacing. Tapping on the hull can also give an indication of any areas that have delaminated from the timber, a hollow sound, a bit like when finding a stud in a wall sheet. the drummy, a high note is a stud, a low one no stud or backing.

Look for any brown staining in the interior, if you see a streak or dribble stain that looks like something has started to rust, it means wood has rotted and will have to be removed and re-glassed, this is most important and can be seen in a lot of fibreglass boats around timber backing plates and stringers etc.

Any bolt holes should have been drilled oversize and filled with epoxy and a suitable hard cure filler then re-drilled to the required size, this prevents water entering the timber, a common error.

I could go on but the above is a good starting point.

Avagoodweekend........



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