1961 Wooden "Restore"

[oregonmike]

Greeting All,

My cousin and are are contemplating a few things on a 15-16' foot wooded boat that my uncle built back around 1961. It was last used in '92 and has been sitting under storage ever since. We would like to get it back in useable condition as others doubt our ability or the boats. Structurally it seams sound and does hold water with little to no leaks. We are thinking of possibly sanding it down and glassing the bottom for added assurance/structural support and repainting the boat. A few questions arose I thought you guys might be able to shed some light on.

We are looking at glassing the lower 1/2 of the bottom back to the transom, should we just glass the whole bottom? I've read on another forum we should use two layers of 10 weight or one layer of 20 weight fabric...?

The other question I run into is the marine grade plywood. When we sand it down should we put something on the wood prior to priming/paint or just go ahead and prime/paint? I read somewhere, where newer wooded boats or even drift boat makers use epoxy to harden and protect the marine plywood, although this plywood is already from '61.


Thanks for your input,
Mike

 

[andgott]

Re: 1961 Wooden "Restore"

Looks like a neat old boat!

Since it appears to be all plywood- fiberglassing the bottom would be an OK way to go. You'll need to get it all down to bare wood first, to give the resin a good surface to stick to. Be a bit careful when you are sanding it down- The plys are often quite thin and easy to sand/grind through if you are not careful!

Another option that you could consider would be using just an epoxy to seal off the plywood, and not using glass cloth.

Take a look at the manual on this page-

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/how-to-publications/

about wooden boat repair/restoration. Though it's written by the makers of West systems epoxy, much of what is in it applies to pretty much any of the 'systems' out there. Lots of good advice there.

One other note- If you are going to do it, do it right- and use EPOXY resin to encapsulate wood. It just sticks better. Water is the enemy of wood, and if you use poly resin to 'save' money, especially when fiberglassing, more likely than not you'll have a bonding failure somewhere down the line, which will allow water to get in (worse yet- between the 'glass and the wood!), and will cause rot.

 

[ghamby]

Re: 1961 Wooden "Restore"

I am restoring a boat much like yours. I have sanded down the marine ply
on the exterior, removed the wood screws in sections, injected the holes
with resin, reinstalled the screws, puttied the heads, and rolled tipped two
coats of epoxy on,sanding in between coats. So far so good. The interior
will be another story. Watch out sanding plywood, the softer parts will
reduce quicker giving you a wavy surface. I used a belt sander with the
belt going with the grain while moving the sander across the grain.
I got the epoxy from Clark Craft. Good luck GH