Leaky wooden boat

I have a 20 foot "White" Lapstrake 1963 I beleive.It wont swell enough to stop the leaking.I have to put the pump on alot in a two hour outing.Any suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance.

Re: Leaky wooden boat

I know very little about the care + feeding of a wooden boat,<br />But, I'm pretty Sure that boat was built in my hometown, when I was 8yrs old.......<br /><br />How long did you let it soak ????<br />It can take quite awhile if it's been dry for a long time...........<br /><br />Good Luck......

Re: Leaky wooden boat

Might be time to modernize her a bit. I would recomend sheathing the hull in fibreglass. It is a very common practice on older wooden boats that adds little extra weight (depends on weight of glass and how thick you make your epoxy) and extends their life by long way (if done properly).

Re: Leaky wooden boat

It might be time to dry dock the boat an recork her.A boat like that needs alot of care.Its a love to keep one up,and if you love the boat,DON'T glass her.<br />One thing I learn over the years is that wood boats,glass or metal(alum),a wood boat has the ride that will out beat all others.Up keep is a different story!

Re: Leaky wooden boat

You might do a little research at Wooden Boat<br />magazine.<br />I'm sure your problem has been written about one time or another.<br />www.woodenboat.com

Re: Leaky wooden boat

Jeff,<br /><br />As one "addict" to another ( I own two of those wooden holes in the water ), the first step is to determine where the leak is coming from. Is it obvious ( i.e. a high water mark, etc...)? If not, then, while in the slip, you need to open up the floorboards, plug all of the limber holes in your frames, vacuum out all of the water, and watch where it accumulates. This will give you a good idea about what to do next, based on where/why it is leaking.<br /><br />Good luck,<br /><br />Scott

Re: Leaky wooden boat

( I own two of those wooden holes in the water ),[/QB][/quote]<br /><br />Welcome to iboats. A buddy I grew up with had a late 50's steel hull 26' CC with a flat head, in-line 6 cyl. Herc. in it. Gosh it was a sweetheart of a engine.<br /><br />As I recall, it weighed about a ton and made about 140hp. But just to hear it run made you think you were in a old Humphrey Bogart movie.

Re: Leaky wooden boat

If you want to be constantly maintaining your hull, then keep it original. If you want a more trouble free hull, glass it. the choice is yours, and ONLY yours. Take into account all that is said and think about what you want. Either way is a lot of work, one is basicly a once off, the other is constantly being done.(n.b. the boat will still look the same with glass on it)

Re: Leaky wooden boat

Your boat is worth more if it's not glassed.<br />Is it planked or plywood bottom?

Re: Leaky wooden boat

Lapstrake boats are prone to leaking as they age and loosen up...more so than any other construction. Some builders use caulk between the laps during construction and others depended on wood swelling to keep the seam tight. Caulking them years later isn't a normal procedure but will probably work on the exterior with 3M5200. Glassing a lapstrake boat is difficult at best, even for the pro glassers, because of the bends and curves. <br /><br />If it were my boat I'd clean the exterior lap joints and apply a bead of thickened epoxy or 3M5200 caulk. Either will glue and seal. Just make sure all the paint is removed where you use epoxy. 3M 5200 works over paint.<br /><br />As mentioned already, the wooden boat forum will have answers on this.

Re: Leaky wooden boat

I seconfd the idea of BillP-- try getting ahold of the WEST Syste, book/pamphlet on wooden boat repair- basically you clean out the laps and re glue the whole boat together with thicken epoxy. You can then coat the outside with epoxy and paint --but not glass fibers-- and you should be set.

Re: Leaky wooden boat

hav any of you ever glassed a boat? It works very well, and give the timber enourmous protection against damage. It is also very easy to do, If you have trouble, then you are doing it wrong. I hav done several lapstrake boats, and they all turned out perfectly. If you can't get the glass to lay flat against the timber then you are using the wrong cloth, or may need to do a small nip and tuck to follow a tight curve. <br /><br />As I also pointed out earlier this is Jeffs decision to make as to how he repairs this hull, What I am haveing trouble understanding here is why you disagree with the use of fibreglass so strongly. I thought that the whole point of these forums was to provide help to others. Not criticize an idea that you think is not worth while.<br /><br />By the way, the only way the boat is worth more if not glassed, is if it is in perfect original condition, and a collector wants it. if it's falling apart and about to sink, it's not worth anything.

Re: Leaky wooden boat

u might consider a good thick coat of "gluvit"<br />paint. just love old wooden boats, but am old<br />enuff to know there's a TON of maint. required.<br />there's a 23','61 CCraft sea skiff in the paper<br />right now though very tempting...

Re: Leaky wooden boat

Originally posted by lark2004:<br /> hav any of you ever glassed a boat? It works very well, and give the timber enourmous protection against damage. It is also very easy to do, If you have trouble, then you are doing it wrong. I hav done several lapstrake boats, and they all turned out perfectly. If you can't get the glass to lay flat against the timber then you are using the wrong cloth, or may need to do a small nip and tuck to follow a tight curve. <br /><br />As I also pointed out earlier this is Jeffs decision to make as to how he repairs this hull, What I am haveing trouble understanding here is why you disagree with the use of fibreglass so strongly. I thought that the whole point of these forums was to provide help to others. Not criticize an idea that you think is not worth while.<br /><br />By the way, the only way the boat is worth more if not glassed, is if it is in perfect original condition, and a collector wants it. if it's falling apart and about to sink, it's not worth anything.

Click to expand...

Lark2004,<br />Relax dude. I didn't consider my post strong...but yes it disagrees with you. You stick to your opinion and I won't be upset that it disagrees with mine. <br /><br />Here's the strong part...Yes, I worked in the glass trade making plugs/molds and glassed (operated chopper guns and did hand lay) big boats, rc model boats, surfboards, various glass auto products, repro glass antiques, fire retardant glass combat gear and chemical tanks. I also had a short stint working in the R&D dept for Aquasport boats making plugs and molds. Also included are many home project rebuilds on transoms and floors or rebuilds(west method)on two wood sailboats (32'& 42')I'd guess the amount of resin I've actually used in the last 40+ yrs is in the 1000s of gallons...including poly, epoxy and casting. I currently own a 10' LAPSTRAKE glass sailing dink and 6 other motor, sail and paddling craft. <br /><br />With ALL that said I am qualified in my own mind to say glassing lapstrake is tedious (even for pros)and not recommended for a lapstrake trailer boats. I'm guessing the lapstrake boats you glassed were flipped over and done bottom up too. I'm also guessing those boats don't get a lot of use and don't get banged on and off trailers or rocky bottoms. And you used 6-10 oz flat weave cloth. New construction with laps beveled specifically for glassing?<br /><br />Lapstrake boats flex more than others and keeping glass down for years can be a problem if using poly resin. Epoxy is best but the glass cloth isn't necessary in Jeff's situation. Regardless, you have to use a thin cloth and it would give only ding resistance to the surface...not structural. Even if you get the glass done right it will leave hard edges that get dinged and eventually let water in...especially on the boat bottom. In short it isn't practical and the original post was asking about leaks (which are at the seams). Sure you can fiberglass it but a good thick bead of thickened epoxy will do it with less hassle. A coating of epoxy on the bottom will give major ding protection without glass too.<br /><br />As already mentioned in one thread, Gluvit is another option...and I applied Glovit on a 32' International 500 sloop (strip plank) boat in 1970...very good stuff and it is more flexible than most other epoxy coatings. I'm not sure it glues as well as modern epoxy resins due to the elastic properties.<br /><br />OK, that's is my story and I'm sticking to it. Peace on earth and good fiberglassing to you sir. Keep the faith baby. Are we still friends?

Re: Leaky wooden boat

oops, wrong button

Re: Leaky wooden boat

BillP,Amen!

Re: Leaky wooden boat

I have a textbook about fibreglassing boats (it covers both epoxy and poly methods) and it says that lapstrake or clinker planking is not recommended for use with fibreglass cloth because hulls of this type tend to work and flex too much. This could cause delamination. They say that if there is any doubt about the stability of a hull and the builder really wants to use cloth, there are certain cloths such as "Dynel" or "Vectra" which will stretch more than regular glass cloth.<br />Hope this helps.

Re: Leaky wooden boat

Well I can't thank you all enough for your input.Heres the scoop.Two years ago I scraped all the seams from the water line down and caulked them with 3M 4200 thinking that would be more flexable than the 5200.At first the boat seemed to be pretty dry but soon started leaking and just got worse.So early this spring I investigated and probed some of the seems.To my dismay I found that the 4200 I used had skinned over but had not cured.Bad tube or maybe it froze befor I purchased it.Under the skin it was just as if it had just come out of the tube.So I probed the web and spoke to some boat building friends.And listened to you folks.One of them had fasioned this tool out of a screwdriver. Ground the tip and put a right angle on the end.So I dug out all the 4200 and continued with this tool to remove about an eighth of an inch into the seam to remove what I beleive was some of the original caulking.It was very brittle and came out of with the use of this tool.I had tried to make my own version of this tool on the first round of caulking with the 4200 but it was to small and I didn't do a very good job.This new tool did the trick.I decided to use the 5200 even with warnings that if I ever needed to remove the caulk it would prove very hard. This boat is othwise in very good shape and I dont plan on taking it apart.As it turns out it worked very well. I am able to go out in the boat for several hours and turn the pump on once in that time only to run for a couple of minutes.I struggle with the whole glass idea.I do think I will do a narrow sripp along the keel as that is where most of my leaks are.I have worked with the West system and am very impressed with its strength.I have also seen a few Lapstrake boats in the area that had been glassed and skimmed with some product I forget the name of but this boat was beautiful.Looked like a glass Lapstrake boat but it was wood.I do love this boat very much and bought it just because it was a wooden boat in restorable condition.If any one has some easy instructions on how to post a picture of it I would love to show it to you. Thanks again for all the input.Hope I didnt start a riff with the two folks that have different opinions on the whole (glass wood) idea. Happy Boating.