wrought iron nails in old boat

[Paul Silverman]

I am planning to replace wrought iron nails in my 60 year old gaff cutter (port orford cedar on oak). She's been in Puget Sound for her entire life and I recently transported her to a freshwater lake in northwest Montana. I expect to return her to salt water at some point and want to preserve her as long as possible for future owners (she's one of Bill Garden's first designs). I've pulled several fasteners. Nails near the iron keel are in great condition, but nails near the water line have corroded to the extent that when I pull them, only the top portion comes out. It is likely that many of the corroded fasteners will have to remain buried in the frames and the frames and planking are too small to do anything but put new fasteners in the same holes as the old ones. I'm thinking of a couple of options: pull out as much of the old fasteners as possible, drill slightly larger holes, and replace with new screws. One possibility would be to use monel (galvanically neutral, but far from wrought iron on the galvanic scale). Another is to use silicon bronze screws. I'm aware that I will have the problem of iron rot, but don't think that there is much I can do about that. My chief concern is to identify a new fastener that will last even if there is some physical contact with the old iron. Any suggestions? While I'm at it, I might add that the 60 year old planks are generally in great shape- even still smell of resin when scratched. A couple of planks need replacing. Does anyone know of a good source of port orford cedar? If I can't find this stuff (or afford it), what would be next best? Thanks!

-Paul Silverman, Missoula, Montana, "Kelpie"

[Larch_Keilson]

On one iron fastened boat I was advised to refasten with monel ring nails in the space below the top iron nail and above the bottom iron nail and and "just sort of pin the plank on" where there was a refastening below the water line that resulted in four iron nails per frame. The planks were mahogany that was sufferring from 40 years of "nail-sickness," so refastening became replanking. The oak frames were still pretty good. I removed a lot of corroded square cut nails then doweled the holes with oak dowel and a waterproof glue. There should be a law against fastening mahogany with iron. The iron boat nails sure do hold, though.

Vertical grain douglas fir is pretty common and availible in air dried planking stock. Port Orford is a little more expensive and harder to find. Check some of the sourses at www.woodweb.com. (http://www.woodweb.com.)

[Larch_Keilson]

Look at the steel square cut nails at www.vandykes.com (http://www.vandykes.com) you may be able to fine some iron fasteners, if you look around. I had a catalog from someone that had iron boat nails, can't remember who. Maybe it was an old Jonestown Distributors catalog. I see they don't have them anymore. Good luck, and keep an eye out for a place for me to builds an Egret or something simple like that.

[mariner2k]

I too am very familiar with iron fastenings. They bleed like you read about. Some were in fair condition, some were in rough shape. In no areas did they seem to do any damage to the cedar planking. However being a 70+ year old boat I wasn't taking too many chances. They could not be removed without destroying the wood, so I did what some might think unpopular. I refastened the planks with silicone bronze alternateing the positions from the iron fastenings. I did a small area each year, and each year I check the bronze fasteners to check for corrosion. I am pleased to report that over the last 10 years I haven't had any sign of corrosion in the fasteners I have pulled.
As far as the bleeding goes, in 1998 I wooded the hull primed with cpes and followed the "Bob Cleek" method of painting the hull. I have had very resonable results with that. Occasionally a bleed thru but nothing compared to what it used to be. Hope that helps. Advice and criticism is always welcome.
mariner