Wooden Boat Basics - Help!

[tim3057]

1972 Wayfarer (wooden) owner looking to buy Finesse 24 with no knowledge of basic annual maintenance requirements for such a boat - I mean how long should it be out of the water each year, how often do I need to repaint /varnish /service the hull etc?

Can anyone suggest a starting point /publication /website or offer some basic advice re wooden boat ownership?

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[chippie]

Wooden Boat magazine in the US is specifically aimed at wooden boat owners.
Google it up.

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[GrahamSC]

Hi
Wooden boats are a labour of love, you need to love labouring. First, you must have a survey done, secondly think hard on the work required, thirdly, really think hard about the work, if convinved that this is the boat for you, go fo it. A.F.PLatt turned out honest work, but its still wood. On no account use heat to remove paint from the hull, it weakens the copper fastenings.
The less time out of the water the better, 6 months will see the hull dry out if not protected from wind. It will leak when launched but should take up within a week, you need to have an auto bilge pump and a good battery, otherwise live aboard. I had a Finesse 21, fine wee boat but the headroom beat me as did the upkeep
All the best
GrahamSC

<hr width=100% size=1>Never recovered from loss of Tot, 1974

 

[charles_reed]

Least time out of the water best.

keep well ahead on maintenance - if you let it go you'll not recover the deficit.
As already suggested, if you're not going to be on it at least weekly an auto-bilge pump and a large battery are advisable.

There's about x3 as much work on a wooden as a comparable plastic boat and the one thing they can't stand is neglect.

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[supermalc]

People laugh when I say I got a wooden boat to cut the workload. I did expect work as I got an OLD boat. To be more precise I meant cut the cleaning. I have spent 20 minutes or so twice wahing down with a mop, while others have spent weekends cleaning and polishing. Mine still looks one of the cleanest...have a look at the photos.

Depends on how long you intend keeping it in the end I suppose.

<hr width=100% size=1>Malcolm.
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/>http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/</A>
Take a look at my boating pages.

 

[FinesseChris]

We have a Finesse 24: 3rd season. Keep on top of deck leaks, no easy way, patch and repair as you can, for fear of a leak letting fresh water into the hull structure. Watch especially the aft deck around the cockpit, we had rot where the mainsheet horse passes thru the deck and it affected the cockpit sides.

She takes up very little water, even when launched after 6 months ashore (under a cover).

You will have a good amount to do, but you won't have to polish the hull, or pay ten quid a small pot for polish as my GRP-owning mate in the yard did last spring. I sem to spend about as much time on the boat as my GRP owing friends do. After all antifouling is a constant for any boat, and the topsides can be as smart as you want them to be, whatever the material. Brightwork can be a hassle but GRP boats have it too, and you can always let the cockpit/whatever go grey...

The other good news is that you can do a good amount of work yourself: wood is a sensible, understandable material.

And of course any boat can have dodgy engine/electrics/rig/sails, and you will spend more time and money on those than the hull if they are not good to start with.

But DO get a survey from a surveyor who knows about wood. And then ignore the stuff about cosmetics and quiz the surveyor on what you really need to do to keep the boat afloat and safe.

We have thoroughly enjoyed 3 seasons with Serinette: she's a great family boat.

Good luck

Chris

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[SteamShipW]

Some thoughts in a rush:
Our 29'6" wooden boat requires 40 hours per year to keep the paintwork and varnish looking like new. At least one coat of paint & varnish to the exterior plus two coats of antifoul. It's worth every minute.

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[supermalc]

Is this the untimate wooden boat....self built as well.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://community.webshots.com/photo/150273814/150805786UbRJLw>http://community.webshots.com/photo/150273814/150805786UbRJLw</A>

Pictures don't do it justice. Usually things look a lot better in a photo, this looks better in the flesh.

<hr width=100% size=1>Malcolm.
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/>http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/</A>
Take a look at my boating pages.

 

[tim3057]

Thanks Chris, useful points. All the Finesse 24s we've looked at so far have some sort of deck leak, and usually around the windows; one had a stanchion post ripped out. So fresh water causes rot where salt does not? Decks seem thoroughly lost underneath paint & glass sheathing - how do you access a problem area under the glass? Have you renewed your windows or their surround?

Tim



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[tim3057]

Thanks SSW,

How often do you take the old varnish right back to the wood? Or do you just keep adding a couple of coats each year? What happens when you get those patchy bare bits where the varnish has eroded away to bare wood, but surrounded by OK stuff? Do you strip the whole lot or just paint the bare bits? Do you ever use teak oil or anything to give the wood a bit of life under the varnish? Can you just slap a bit on (varnish or oil) just to 'save' the wood until you get time to do it properly?

Tim

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[FinesseChris]

Yes, fresh water is Wooden Boat Enemy no 1. I use a 50/50 mix of raw linseed oil (not boiled) and wood preserver: get that into anywhere the wood is exposed befoe varnish/paint.

Decks are a problem: a poke from below with a sharp implement will find soft areas and make the surveyor/shipwright suck their teeth. Try to find the source of leaks; all that beading, stanchion bases, window surrounds, deck fittings are culprits. the boat will flex and expand/contract, and fittings will be under strain, thus leaks open up.

There are 3 approaches to decks IMHO: 1 is to bodge, by which I mean renew mastic below beading, rebed fittings, apply Capt Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure (really) to tiny leaks, slap on lots of paint. Second approach is renew deck patch by patch, using new (preservative-soaked) ply, glass cloth, epoxy. Third is take the whole lot off and renew and get 20 years worth of new deck in one go. Bottom line is that ply does not last forever.

But deck leaks are rarely terminal (if annoying) if you ventilate, treat wood as advised by others.

cheers

Chris

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[SteamShipW]

I've had no success patching areas of damaged varnish. If we had that problem we would strip it off, start from scratch and make a good job of it, six coats at least, then rub down and add one or two new coats every year. That way the baot should look great and last up to 10 years before needing to be stripped again. For more of our thoughts try here. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stuartwyatt/wanderer/paints.html

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[tim3057]

Agreed, and thanks for link to your site. I think Esbebede will get a quick-fix this summer then some more careful work once I have time.

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