Dory repair....

[NGrace]

OK, hopefully this will work and you should be seeing a picture of my "new" dory. This is the bottom plank on the starboard side and as you can see it has some rot and bug abuse. The scribed line above the rot area is from the boot stripe line. I believe that is the remains of red lead paint you are seeing. So, this rot only goes about half way up the plank and probably extends down three or so feet. The stern end of the plank seems to be in OK shape. The inside of the plank is good and has no sign of rot. I did the knife test on this entire plank, and while the board is soft the rot doesn't extend to the total depth of the wood. What you see here is basically it. Is this a good candidate for total replacement, or could I remedy this by sanding down to healthy wood and then coating with several layers of epoxy? The port plank is having similar problems. I think if I pull this plank off, I might as well replace the bottom/floor boards as well.

Any thoughts or advice on a best course of action? I would like to do this right and save the boat as best I can. This boat actually appeared in an article that John Gardner wrote in the National Fishermen back in the 80s. It was built by a friend of mine in Salem, MA and has been sitting in the water about 50 yards from the Friendship of Salem for the past 3+ years.

Thanks for any help.

Regards,
Nathan

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid204/pd0ce09058514c8b3071c8e834f2e01f8/ef7a6606.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid204/p366d65940cf4f55ea3a39155f4e61f79/ef7a65f4.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid204/p9ff645d757395a715550e97691d33f29/ef7a65e2.jpg

[Stiletto]

If you can dry it well and sand back to good wood without taking too much off I would be inclined to the epoxy repair and monitor it, because it will be relatively easy to do, and if you have to replace it later you havent wasted too much effort.
I am assuming the boat's function is more of a utilty boat than a showpiece.

[Thorne]

Ooooh - I have SO been there! If the fasteners were showing more along the bottom of the garboard strake, I'd swear it was a photo of an old Bank dory that I restored a decade ago...it had been pulled off the bottom of Richardson Bay, and in retrospect should have been left there.

;-0 )

The purists (and experienced builders) may disagree, but you are right -- replacing these strakes involves rebuilding the whole boat, or nearly so. Dories are built around the bottom planks, and when you mess with them, the whole boat is impacted.

From my perspective, I'd say scrub the wood with a wire brush to remove any really soft wood. Then soak it with multiple coats of CPES - I like Smith's Cold Weather formula as it cures rapidly. Then build it back up with Smith's epoxy fairing compound to match the other planks. Then possibly a final coat of CPES (that's the way Mr. Smith recommends doing it), and paint.

If the wire-brushing removes too much wood around the fasteners, you may then reconsider how to proceed, as the main structural joint between sides and bottom would be weakened.

A lot depends on how the boat will be used -- in the water again for a long time, or mostly dry-sailed?

[Rick-Mi]

There is a company that makes an epoxy which penetrates wood rot and can fix certain problems if they aren't too far gone, particularly if it isn't all the way through like you said. Look around this website, there might be some answers a whole lot easier that trying to replace garboards on a dory!!!


http://www.rotdoctor.com/boat/Bmain.html

[Thorne]

The Rotdoctor is just Smith's stuff rebranded -

http://www.smithandcompany.org/

The damage looks more like worm and wear than the more traditional "rot" which is a fungus attack on the wood. Smith's CPES is no ultimate fix for "rot", but it does give you a good penetrating basecoat for other epoxy products (like the fairing compound) or paints to adhere to.

Smith recommends cleaning the damaged wood with MEK after wirebrushing all the soft stuff away, others on this forum have recommended others chemicals. Use gloves and a respirator with ANY of these products, best to work outdoors or with strong ventilation.

[paladin]

dry rot spores or.......
The only thing to remember is "Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, lives in a styrene atmosphere"!

[Rick-Mi]

Oops, I see information about this product is well known. How obvious on a wooden boat forum :rolleyes: . I used a similar product to fix a problem with waterline level leaking hardware on a duck hunting layout boat. In that less than demanding application it worked perfect. Just one newbie trying to give a suggestion to another...... :p