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Wooden boat maintenance


Fogg

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Looking for feedback on the true impact of owning a wooden boat and how muich extra work/effort/cost/time is required compared to a 'normal' boat?

 

And what kind of areas generate this extra work?

 

And what is the impact of the teak decks? I hear people say you need to look after them but apart from keeping the rubber caulking up to standard what else? AC's teak cockpit requires precisely zero maintenance (to date). So what else from a teak deck?

 

Assume boat is in good starting condition today, has teak decks, metal spars.

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Yes, the consequences of an apparently little problem on a wooden boat can be severe - a small cabin/deck leak on my dad's classic wooden boat caused a bit of rot in a carlin. Once he'd cut down to the carlin, and got into repairing that, he ended up chasing that "little bit of rot" to the point that he now has a whole new cockpit. It's a nice cockpit, and he's just got back from a week in Abel Tasman on the boat so it all worked out OK, but still it was a job that wouldn't have got so big on a fibreglass boat, and his was a boat in apparently pretty good shape. Similarly, a leaking stanchion on my ply over glass trailer sailer in otherwise pretty good nick led to me replacing a half-metre section of box coaming and the deck under it, because a little bit of rain had got in there and wrecked the ply inside the glass.

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There's also a big difference between an old plank and frame boat and a modern timber/epoxy for instance. I'd say find out exactly the construction , then buy somebody like Gary Patten a really good lunch or a bottle of Mount Gay or something, hell cash if that's what it takes, and then pick his brains.

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I suppose I should put my humour aside for a serious topic.

I've only ever had wooden boats and I agree with what the guys say above, you've really got to have an eye out for deck ,deck/ coaming and deck hull interface etc leaks because its rainwater which is the killer.

I think we have a undervalued resource here personally, the boats that followed our non glued classics like the Logans/ Baileys/ and the K class etc were built by some world class and better boatbuilders and are quite commonly of terrific quality and craftsmanship. There's quite a lot of exceptional cold moulded kauri boats built here, typically 70's through 80's built by them . Light ,strong boats with character and like most NZ boats, really good performance for their time. Performance good enough to still make them pretty prompt as cruisers.

When we go away for our christmas cruise with mates we'll typically take a corner of the bay with a Davidson, a Lidgard, a Birdsall ,a Pelin and a Beale. We need a Wright and a Townson, and a Whiting. and a Stewart , a Young etc etc.....

Clark, Senior, Farr, Mummery......

 

Incidentally, two of the boats we cruise with above have had their teak deck veneers removed and replaced by ply and glass> paint. I certainly would not replace a teak veneer deck with more teak now either.

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Thanks guys, some interesting insights.

 

When I've got more info on the build history of this one I'll let you know, including the epoxy aspect that Ogre raised.

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There's also a big difference between an old plank and frame boat and a modern timber/epoxy for instance.

 

Too true.

A modern timber boat with numerous coats (10+) of thinned epoxy sealer almost becomes a fibreglass boat with the timber fibres replacing the glass ones.

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My boy as a wise sage once said if it has tyres,tits or a transom it will cost you a lot. My advice is get a lot of advice, really know what you want and remember it is only money and you are here for a good time not a long time.

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My advice.

 

talk to the experts and get quotes.

 

for painting. Get a spec drawn up and price it. All companies offer a free spec service.

 

preparation is everything. And quality decision making, quality products and quality workmanship is worth every cent.

 

remember. It cost about the Same to do a good job as it does a poor job bur the finish and value is very different

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