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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[tillergirl]

A similar question was asked a week or so back, perhaps on the Practical Boat Owner forum. Basically the trick with a wooden boat is to have an annual maintenance round. Miss one year and the next tends to be a bit harder.

Once you have a wooden boat up to scratch, an annual maintenance round keeps her in pretty good nick. A Finesse 24 is clinker as you probably know. My first boat was a 25' clinker build of very similar proportions. I had her lifted out each November and relaunched in early May. Leaving her until the end of May or one disasterous year, early June caused her to dry out too much and she took a lot to take up. On lift, I used to clean her internally and externally and any areas needing getting up to scratch I did during the winter. My current boat is still wood but carvel and is a little larger. I do not lift her each winter but tend to do so every four or five years to give the bottom a better clean than is possible between tides.
My programme in the spring is rub down topsides and undercoat and enamel. I antifoul and put on as many coats of varnish as possible. The topsides don't need doing every year in terms of adequacy of the coating but I like to freshen her up and the process gives me a good check of the condition of the hull. I have to say that leaving my current baot in gives her no stress of taking up that would come on re-launch but it does require a snug and safe winter berth and means that all the spring painting is done on the 'beach' between tides - which is not perfect. I guess most people with a wooden 24' yacht lift each winter but then I'm not in a marina so I might be misinformed about that. Wherever you overwinter, I think an all over cover is absolutely essential; which means dropping the mast (which is not the greatest hassle) or getting a bespoke cover made to go round the mast which is a lot dearer.

In the water or out, I always try to get the bilge clean and dry and keep it that way. I put some absorbant 3M material in the bilge and leave all hatchs, lockers and floorboard up to permit ventilation. I remove all valuable bits of removal kit home so that I can leave forehatch and mainhatch open for full ventilation.

Most of it is common sense. I don't think that you can treat even a very well found wooden boat like you see many glass ones with no covers. Fresh water is the killer and the design and construction of wooden boats is such that rain/snow can easily accumulate during the laying up period and start problems.

So I guess the short answer to your question is:

Think about laying up - make sure you have a sound winter cover - its one of the ebst investments; don't allow the spring weather to dry her out too much if she is out. Get her up to scratch and then have a annual maintenance round which refreshes all the paint - anti-foul (obviously) topsides, deck and varnish and touch up problems as they occur.

It's nothing to be frightened of provided you accept that its work that will need to be done. Some of us sad people actually enjoy it.

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[Mirelle]

I agree with everything that Tillergirl has just posted.

There are many good books on wooden boat maintenance - Michael Verney is one good writer on the subject, but a prowl round you local library or secondhand bookshop should turn up a selection.

Wooden boat maintenance is fun, and not at all difficult or alarming.

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[Peterduck]

I'd like to add that you never stop learning until you sell your last boat.
Peter.

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[tim3057]

Thanks very much for the advice. I'm very happy with painting /varnishing surfaces I can see - and aware that varnish in particular gets bleached & cracked with sunlight. What about those places lurking out of sight under the engine and around the mysterious lifting keel - which, on one I've looked at, seems to have a fair amount of wet brown sludge around the base.. Windows too seem to leak, with stains running down from them, and small puddles on top of each row of clinker planks..

With the Wayfarer, which I was given literally rotten & full of holes, I used lots of fibreglass, refitted every screw in the hull, stuck it all back together and now keep the new decks fresh with just teak oil, no varnish. The damage it originally had seemed to be caused by puddles of water rotting through the hull over time. Wooden boats seem to always have a puddle in the bilges - will this not cause rot? Can't you just pour epoxy into the bilges to protect the wood?

Antifouling then can be applied beween tides on a drying mooring?

Varnish can be recoated with a little roughening of the surface each time, fine sanding between coats - but does it all need stripping off once in a while? How often, roughly?

How do you manage maintenance on a swinging mooring, or a 1/2 tide drying mud mooring without shore power?

Thanks for the tip about Wooden Boat magazines. I subscribe to PBO, and have started getting Classic Boat; info is valid but somehow too advanced - so I appreciate your beginners advice!

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[Casey]

I was advised by the shipwright who did some work on my clinker built boat when I first bought her to use Cuprinol or some other such wood preserver on all places in the boat which could not be seen/reached. I found that a hand held garden spray was ideal for this purpose and go around every year and spray everywhere I otherwise cannot reach. With that and keeping the air flowing around the boat when she is closed up I have seen no signs of the dreaded rot

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[tillergirl]

Well, I'm not sure that diagnosis by forum posts is going to be too successful. I think you will be very wise to check out any vessel as best you can whether it be wood or otherwise. As a general rule it's fresh water damage that is the most threatening therefore deck leaks are always more worrying than below the water line (I'm obviously not talking about leaks that would sink her). The bilge under the engine should have received a sound paint job prior to the installation of the engine and thereafter gets little abrasion. Look at the rest of the bilge and the quality of the paint job. If that is poor assume that under the engine will be similar. Brown sludge - have a rake about and test for soundness of the wood. That clearly needs to be cleaned up but doesn't necessarily mean trouble. It does indicate that the previous/current owner doesn't keep her too clean.

Mysterious lifting keels then to be a steel plate that pivots on a steel bolt with some form of uphaul, all of which is renewable generably without great cost. the quality of any centreboard case (if that is what it retracts into) and its construction is important - Maurice Griffiths' books are quite useful for showing how this are constructed. I would be not too concerned about window leaks - need to be sorted obviously but I would be looking more at the edges of the deck, particularly at the stern. Fresh water leaks through the decks can be storing up a lot of trouble.

Not sure what you mean by 'small puddles on top of each row of clinker planks - if that is fresh water dripping from the leaking windows and there is no evidence of softness and good paint coverage, then I would tend to be not too concerned. Yes wooden boats can have water int he bilge - TG will have some now - if it was fresh water I would be mopping it up - if there was a lot of it, I'd be hunting the leak but a good paint job is what is required. I guess you could probably epoxy the bilge but I would like to think that through - I think getting adhesion would be quite difficult (the wood is not longer 'new') and I'm not sure of the advantage.

Yes antifouling can be applied between tides - its not a long job. Obviously you want sufficient time to allow the surface to dry before you apply the coating and enough for the coating to dry once applied. I don't do this on a half tide mooring - I go on the 'beach' where she is dry for about 20 hours in 24.

Sound varnish doesn't need stripping - recoating as described is usually fine. If it is not sound ie discoloured, cracked, flaking etc, a sound surface has to be created which can be work!

If I require power, I do the maintenance in my winter berth or on the 'beach' where I can run power to the vessel. I do have chum who has a portable genny to run power tools. Planning is the answer. I find a plan to tackle those things that must be done with power is essential so that I get it done in the winter berth or on the 'beach'. I now tend to leave things that don't need external 240v power until I'm on my mooring - so any major prep for varnish, I would do on the beach but after a couple of coats there, I will give extras on the mooring after a light rub down. It ahs the advantage of have little dust out there.

I think you will have to make a judgement whether you need a survey or whether you can assess the vessel yourself. There are always risks in making these sorts of judgements but a lot of it is common sense.

Good luck

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[Finesse]

All good advice. I bought a Finesse about 18 months ago. She is berthed in Gillingham marina and I lift her once a year generally to repaint the hull and antifoul. My boat was in need of some TLC when I bought her and I can confirm that bringing her up to scratch is a long and hard job. I have toyed with the idea of using woodstain on the non wearing brightwork as discussed in a recent version of Sailing Today (I think) but have yet to decide. The advantage with the Finesse is the quality of her construction and the large scantlings used. I can also vouch for the necessity of dealing with deck leaks. I had some evidence of this over the heads compartment and it has now become something that needs urgent attention.

Buy the Finesse.You will not regret it!

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[tim3057]

Thank you, and yes, I have just bought a Finesse thanks in no small part to the reassuring advice in this forum. No doubt I will be back once I start to sink!


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[tillergirl]

My first boat was pretty similar to a Finesse although where she was made I do not know. I think you will find the Finesse a sound and enjoyable addition to the family. Where will you be using as your base?

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[tim3057]

She's in Chichester Harbour at the moment, and will probably stay there on a drying pontoon mooring until we move to London maybe next year. Eventually I hope to get a berth in Poole Harbour somewhere.

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