1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

[redstrat]

Hi, I am starting to restore a 14' 1949 Duke Seabird. The boat was purchased new by my grandfather in 1949. It was only used about 1 week each summer, always stored inside and has not been in the water since 1974. My father had repaired two cracked planks with glass many years ago. I have just finished restoring my 1973 Checkmate MX-16 so I've become very comfortable using epoxy products. There seems to be a lot of controversy over using epoxy for wood boat restoration. My father (90 years old), my brother and I would like to keep it looking original and be as serviceable as possible. So far we have removed the glass patches and started removing varnish with a heat gun and scraper. We are trying to decide on an approach for repairing the split planks and refinishing the hull. We would appreciate any information that might help us decide on how best to restore our family heirloom.

 

[Bayou Dave]

Re: 1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

That is a great looking boat! Do you have any close up photos of the split planks? Being wood they probably can be repaired fairly easily.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

Epoxy is probably the BEST choice for wood boat restoration. Pics of the damaged area would greatly help us to to assist you with the repair. 6oz glass is typically used to help reinforce the epoxy. It will practically disappear when wetted out with the epoxy.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: 1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

Woody's right about epoxy being the best choice, however. That certainly won't be original. Back in '49 it was most likely spar varnish. Having said that you can probably use epoxy and it will look close to original, but it won't BE original.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

GS is 100% correct!!! If you want to be a Purist, then you should stick with the Varnish. You would need to do a better woodworking repair since you wouldn't have the resin and glass to give you the added strength so keep that in mind. That is one BEEEE_U_TEEEEE_Full lapstrake boat!!!!!! I'd be leaning towards keeping her as original as possible.

 

[pauloman]

Re: 1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

I am an epoxy vendor and I would recommend not using epoxy. Go for original first. Epoxy is a path you cannot easily undo. Save it for a last ditch effort. Years from now you or some other owner (maybe a more skilled wooden boat pro) might really regret the use of epoxy on it in 2013. Something like this is more of a work of art to be treasured and not 'roughly' fixed so as to be put back to into work.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

^^^ Agree with the others. DON'T use epoxy! That boat is 64 years old and look at how nice the origional finish is, I would go back with what they used originally. Spar varnish?

If this were a beat up working/hunting/fishing boat on it's last leg and you wanted to make it seaworthy again, then by all means use epoxy.

Post up some pics of the damaged wood areas so we can see what needs to be repaired.

 

[redstrat]

Re: 1949 lapstrake, epoxy or not?

Thanks for all the input, I've asked my brother for some more recent photos. I'm 250 miles away and will only be able to work on it occasionally. Here are a couple of pics after a good washing. In the transom shot you can see a crack that runs the entire width about half way between the motor mount and the keel. The two blond areas are where the glass patches were. I'll try for some better shots of the cracked planks soon. Thanks again