Preventing Seams Opening/Excessive Wood Shrinkage on Projects of Sev. Yrs. Duration

[True Love]

How do you manage seams and the possiblity of wood drying out/shrinking on home repair/rebuilds that take several years to accomplish?

I ask because I'm looking at a couple of boats that need some work that will take more than just being hauled out over winter. Do you just assume you're going to have to recaulk the hull? Are there proactive steps you can take to prevent having to do that?

[Ed Harrow]

Sometime in the last two years Paul Haley wrote an article for wouldn't boat relative to storing boats for the winter, minimizing plank shrinkage, and the like.

Executive summary: Put a pot on a stove, fill the pot with a 50/50 mix of linseed oil and turps. Heat the stuff (don't do this near anything you don't want to loose, LOL) and then slather it on the hull.

You can use the article search to find out which issue carried that particular article. There's also been discussions here, so you can use the search bit in the upper right to look for those discussions.

[rbgarr]

My understanding is that steps to take to forestall shrinking include:

-Keeping the boat out of sun, heat and wind,

-Painting the bare planking (inside the hull perhaps?) with linseed oil or a glycol solution

-Maintaining a high humidity level if, possible.

Can't tell from your profile where you are or what your situation is.

[True Love]

I'm in the upper midwest, rbgarr. We haul out in October and go in mid-May if lucky.

I will search for that article, Ed, and I appreciate the info. I just ordered the WoodenBoat CD so hopefully I can just pull it off that when it comes.

[rbgarr]

Truelove-

Now I remember... you were looking at a Reimers design weren't you? Ed's right about the turpentine/linseed oil mixture and heat. I just can't remember whether you use raw or boiled linseed oil. One of them leaves a sticky coating and doesn't soak up well as I remember.

Anyone know??

[bugeye]

hi,
the rhyme goes:

raw oil soaks right in, boiled oil leaves a skin. Based on this, I would think that maybe it would be best to do a coat of raw and turps, and then a coat of boiled and turps, or maybe just straight boiled. I don't think that there is anything that you can do to keep a boat from drying out if it's going to be out for more than a winter. I hauled my boat out last January, and it stayed tight until the weather warmed up a bit, and then holy cats did it ever open up!I'm not excited about the gyrations I'll have to go through next spring when we go to re-launch her.

[bugeye]

hi,
the rhyme goes:

raw oil soaks right in, boiled oil leaves a skin. Based on this, I would think that maybe it would be best to do a coat of raw and turps, and then a coat of boiled and turps, or maybe just straight boiled. I don't think that there is anything that you can do to keep a boat from drying out if it's going to be out for more than a winter. I hauled my boat out last January, and it stayed tight until the weather warmed up a bit, and then holy cats did it ever open up!I'm not excited about the gyrations I'll have to go through next spring when we go to re-launch her.

[bugeye]

hi,
the rhyme goes:

raw oil soaks right in, boiled oil leaves a skin. Based on this, I would think that maybe it would be best to do a coat of raw and turps, and then a coat of boiled and turps, or maybe just straight boiled. I don't think that there is anything that you can do to keep a boat from drying out if it's going to be out for more than a winter. I hauled my boat out last January, and it stayed tight until the weather warmed up a bit, and then holy cats did it ever open up!I'm not excited about the gyrations I'll have to go through next spring when we go to re-launch her.

[bugeye]

hi,
the rhyme goes:

raw oil soaks right in, boiled oil leaves a skin. Based on this, I would think that maybe it would be best to do a coat of raw and turps, and then a coat of boiled and turps, or maybe just straight boiled. I don't think that there is anything that you can do to keep a boat from drying out if it's going to be out for more than a winter. I hauled my boat out last January, and it stayed tight until the weather warmed up a bit, and then holy cats did it ever open up!I'm not excited about the gyrations I'll have to go through next spring when we go to re-launch her.

[Thomas Garber]

TL-My boat's been exposed to the elements for 4 years since it last floated. I spray the bare wood with 50/50 raw linseed oil and turps. I occasionaly allow the boat to get drenched with rain. So far no checks in the planking, and the seams are relatively tight.

[True Love]

Thomas,

Do you spray that on from the inside?

[Thomas Garber]

I sprayed from the outside with a plastic bottle.

[ken mcclure]

Use a double-boiler to heat the oil/turps. Put your mixture in a bucket and set the bucket in a larger bucket of hot water - just don't put in so much water that it slops over into the turps mixture.

NEVER apply direct heat to a pot with the mixture in it.

[True Love]

Good to know, KWM. Thanks.

I assume this same approach would work for wooden boats pulled out for winter (and kept inside).

[Ed Harrow]

Kevin - you take the fun out of everything...

[rbgarr]

Thomas-

So the exterior of the planking on your boat is unpainted (or the paint has been removed), right? Is the boat new construction or old?

[Pelican]

Be extremely careful of what you do with the rags that have linseed oil on them. I had a spontaneous combustion fire many years ago from throwing a linseed oil rag in a pile with other rags.

[Thomas Garber]

RB-Yeah, there was a period of about 9 months after I wooded the hull, and before I painted, that the planks were bare. You can see the results at:

http://www.thirdwavefilms.com/tob.htm

[This message has been edited by Thomas Garber (edited 01-07-2002).]