Wooden Boats - What Advice / Experience Do You Have for Newbies ?

[Adax]

Thanks Zeehag . I love the way you describe things . Well ,we are into this as a couple so having that kind of mistress is allowed,even encouraged haha. I think the wooden boat idea is here to stay ,in fact the other half is starting to look this Friday .Let´s see what comes up . He will have experienced eyes look it over once he found a boat worth a second look so that helps as well.

BTW I love your signature line .I needed a laugh today and that did it for me . May I borrow it ?

[FERROWNER2010]

I have been repairing a 32 foot marine ply van de stadt racing yacht for the last 12 months, all up about 1500 hours, wil need about another 300-500 to finish. If you buy a wooden boat that needs repair you are very unlikely to cover all your costs but you will have a great boat of you do the repairs well.

I started as a novice and now have skills equal to or better than a professional boat repair man, infact i had to take a repair out that i paid a repair man to do and re do the whole thing to factory spec becuase he had not done it correctly. I have done major surgury on the boat, replaced the whole cockpit floor which took me 50 hours including beefing up the underfloor stucture.

I am confident i can repair any wooden boat as well as any pro in AUS.

Repairing a wooden boat takes lots of time and its not so hard to do but you must be logical and ask lots of advice. You need to buy the best materials and not use cheap epoxy or paint and stainless screws. The internet helps a lot for info.

Use the best materials, i used west system, the repairs have cost me about 7K so far and I am yet to put any white paint on the boat.

You will have to re-glass and replace any areas that have rot. If you find a small spot 3 or 4 inches thats soft u will likely have to replace 3 -4 times that amount to match up with the boats beams and structure.

If the boat you are looking at shows any sign of soft spots or rot then you will have many months of work to do. If you do not mind the work its a great way to learn skills and very satisfying. You will come home covered in epoxy and dirt for months and months on end.

The boat must have a lot of potential if you are to invest this much time in her. The boat I got had very nice lines but as a beginer I had no idea i would need 15 months plus to get her finished.

I estimatd 2 months when i went to look at her and if i knew what i do now I would not have bought it.

The good thing is that your boat will look almost new when you have finished and you will know every inch of her.

Good luck.

Tim

[LakeSuperior]

I currently own a 37' teak on white oak yawl with a bright trunk and a 44' Mason. I can tell you from 30 years experience with both wood and glass boats that there is very little difference in the amount of up keep required by both. That said, the experience has been in Lake Superior which is different than southern and salt environments.

[Adax]

Lake Superior , thanks for the encouragement.
Ferrowner ,thanks for the useful tips .They will come in handy very soon .

Well,all ,thanks to everybody who contributed. I was away for a little while, but
the latest news is this. A boat purchase is imminent, within the next few weeks I would say. K. is looking at a boat this week, which looks very promising . Plans had to change a bit and it will not be an oceangoer initially but more of a river boat ,. which is fine as we planned to do that for a couple of years anyway . Wish us luck that the right boat finds us soon .

[millstb]

My beautiful Zwei Fische, a wooden H-28 is hopefully sailing somewhere on the chesapeake bay today. I had her for 18 years; learned a lot about boats in general and wood in particular ... a real labor of love. I'd do it all over again. Sadly the resale value is generally not there, they are great to sail in ... when moored, if the wind is just right as it passes throught the rigging it creates an Aolian lyre .. beautiful music spins through the cabin ... I think the forestay was tuned to a low 'D'

for those that love 'em nothing else matters.

cheers,
miller

[RSMacG]

Maintaining her will be either a cause of constant activity and joy, or a crushing burden, depending on your disposition. Personally, I love maintaining the wood on my boat, a small bit at a time, but essentially constantly.

The Bible (for me): Amazon.com: Brightwork (9780071486576): Rebecca Wittman: Books

[David_Old_Jersey]

Me father had a Storebro Solo (24 foot) in the late 60's / early 70's.




He did a lot of varnishing

His next boat was a 27 foot wooden motorsailer.



He probably put in a million hours over 25 years on both boats - always was in a constant battle in the bilges against.............dust

At 60 he went GRP

Me? growing up with seeing that, hour by hour, I went GRP from day 1


But the most important thing to remember about a wooden boat you keep in A1+ condition is that when you sell her she will probably be bought by............someone who won't truly understand the work required to keep her that way. Therefore don't sell locally - it will break yer heart

[tager]

If you want a wood boat, buy a fiberglass one. Every time you feel yourself pining for that wood boat, put some brightwork on deck and varnish it.

Now when your deck is covered with brightwork, and you strip and varnish one item per day, you are ready for a wood boat. It's just that amount of work times three.

[shadow]

Great thread as I am also in the searching mode and created my own thread asking about which hull is best, wood, steel or aluminium?? I also realize that all three have their own unique pros and cons and I am not delusional with any of them. As for time and maintenance, well, since I am planning on living on it full time and sailing, I have nothing BUT time and with pride of ownership that drives me to want to keep it "ship shape!"

I do agree, there is something about the all wooden boats that just drives me crazy in love with boats all over again!!

[CharlieCobra]

Ya know, there's a product called Colean (sp) that's a polyurethane with a 10 year life span that I'm investigating for brightwork. Interesting stuff.....

[IdoraKeeper]

they ARE your mistress--wife could get very jealous of the time spent with the mistress ...[/QUOTE]



ZeeHagg

You are a wise woman. My wife is already there. I prefer that they would co-exist, but there is tension there.

Todd

[IdoraKeeper]

"He probably put in a million hours over 25 years on both boats - always was in a constant battle in the bilges against.............dust "


Oh Horror! There could be dust in the bilge? When I get home I will go straight to the dock..

Todd

[CharlieCobra]

That's what a vacuum is for....

[eyschulman]

The secret with old wood boats is that you own them if you like maintanance work more than sailing- the most sucessful wood boat owners I have known were not even interested in putting them in water or leaving dock-Newer wood boats made with epoxy and modern finishes can be more user friendly.

[perchance]

Wood has no business being on the outside of a boat unless you are a masochist. That's just my opinion since I'd rather be sailing and not battling wood rot and re-re-refinishing wood.