Wooden Hull Boat on the Slip

[MV-Romnya]

How long can I keep a wooden hull boat out of the water - it will be slipped in South Eastern Australia Mid spring this year or late summer next year - the boat was built around 1955. Some of the old salts say 2 day max - any ideas ? - Thanking you in anticipation regards Mv-Romnya

[Excalibur5]

If it is properly supported (cradle or good bracing on frames) - indefinate. The problem though is when the wood dries it will shrink, and will make the boat leak badly when put into the water again. (this is for planked boats) You may also need to re-caulk a few spots if it comes loose when the wood dries out.

The wood will swell up over a few days back in the water, so as long as you monitor it and have good pumps onboard the first few days, the boat will be fine.

One old shipwright said that he would put a lawn sprinkler underneath the boat to spray on the hull 24-7 for 3 days to a week before launching. This would help to re-wet the wood, and keep it from leaking so badly when launched.

[Lagoon4us]

Wet sacks works well with an occasional hosing down......

[MV-Romnya]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice - I only joined your community yesterday and already had 3 helpful answers -

[Lagoon4us]

Just don't ask about anchors :-)

[Blue Stocking]

We used a floating boom and saw dust sprinkled around a little hard chiner as we let her soak up on the cradle.

[Wotname]

If it helps, I had a carvel hull (28') out of the water in late autumn for 3 weeks in Perth; weather was mild and slightly damp. It took about 12 hours for the planks to take up and a further 24 hours before it was back to normal.

Later it was out of the water for 2 weeks in Darwin where weather was hot and dry.
Took about 2 days to stop leaking like a sieve and a couple more days before it was back to normal.

I don't know but I am told it depends on the integrity of the ribs and fastening etc and a lightly built wooden hull will suffer more; my hull was a very heavily built Kiwi hull.

[bruce smith]

That is true. A lightly built vessel can have the screws loosened in the frames from excessive shrinking.
A 55 yo powerboat may not be heavily framed.
If you must store her on land, try and keep her shaded / damp.
On dirt is better than cement. damp dirt even better.

[MV-Romnya]

Thanks for all the great ideas - I think the sprinkler job is a good one if you have easy access to the sea water and unlimited power supply

[markpierce]

Don't leave it out too long.

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by MV-Romnya

Thanks for all the great ideas - I think the sprinkler job is a good one if you have easy access to the sea water and unlimited power supply

Fresh water is fine, get some pool salt and bring up the salinity of the water, you won't introduce any rot by using a light spray from a soaker hose on town water once a day, just make sure you are damping down not filling the boat, hulls are made to keep water out not in!!!!!

[sabray]

I think the cell of the wood cannot absorb as much moisture and expand the way it once did after drying.. if it continues in dry condition it will not swell the way it once did. Yes keep it wet burlap bags can help. There is some science behind this.

[Lagoon4us]

That's correct if allowed to dry the caulking will need compressing some....

[Cruisingscotts]

Register and log into the wooden boat forum lots of folks down under on there some most likely local to the boat who can give you good layup advice for the area for a wood boat. Local conditions are a huge factor in making the decision you are about to make.

[MV-Romnya]

Thanks Crusiningscotts for that advise - MVR