Luis, If you decide to
purchase the wood/epoxy boat, do you have access to
epoxy resin systems like System 3 or WEST System? You can use other epoxies, but the further you get from formulations that are simple to apply, don't need special curing techniques, and are relatively safe to
work with, well, things get more complicated.
First, get a copy of the Gougeon Brothers book (
Gougeon Brothers, Inc.) to learn about the techniques of working with epoxies, in general. You will probably discover that it is far easier than you had imagined.
Second, and this should be easy for you, locate a good source of local
plywood. It should have as many thin ply pieces per thickness as possible. It would really help if the glue holding the laminates together is waterproof (to prevent
delamination in case of damage to the outside skin). A
marine ply or exterior, premium grade (usually a
marine ply reject) is the target product. I don't know how
plywood is classified in
Brazil, but I'm sure there is a good system.
Generally, you can simply cut out any
rot, back to solid
wood, prepare a filler piece, with adequate bonding between the two pieces of
wood, and glue it in. If you need additional structural strength, you can use backing blocks or other techniques. These technical terms are all explained in well-illustrated detail in the Gougeon book.
The rigging is another story, particularly in the tropics. As many folks in Cruiser's Forum have observed previously, the issue is rust on so-called "stainless steel". It can occur, most destructively, inside the swaged terminals at the bottom of the rigging, where it attaches to the turnbuckles and chainplates. You can
purchase a two-part chemical dye that helps identify a crack in the metal swage cylinder. Another potential area of concern is how the shrouds (the standing rigging) connect at the top of the
mast, and how the spreaders are fastened. If there is a bolt passing through the mast, it will have an unseen,
interior tube surrounding it to prevent the sides of the mast tube from squeezing together when the fastener nuts are tightened. After twenty years (sometimes sooner),
corrosion can occur at the intersection of the nut and the threaded portion of the bolt. The result is a sudden loss of the end of the bolt, which can lead to the mast folding at the spreader. It would be an excellent idea to remove the mast, replace all the
compression bolts, soon after purchase. It is also a great time to remove all the
hardware, repaint the mast, and replace any needed fasteners,
VHF cable,
electrical wiring, etc. Then, you can more easily add new
gear (radar,
instruments, L.E.D. masthead
lighting, etc.) and some new rigging wire. You might consider using mechanical (Norseman, for example) terminals at the lower ends of the rigging, rather than swaged. I hope this helps.