Huon Pine Timber - Cleaning the Bilge

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Kokonut

Absolutely grateful for the knowledge shared!

The common thread among most of the answers has been to use salt, either in a bag of some sort or to simply sprinkle it on the wood. With this sprinkle of information on hand, I was better directed what to look for using the all knowing Google God.

If you get a moment, do read this super article "Chemotherapy for Rot" (thank you Steve Bean).

The article covers precisely what most of you have all alluded to regarding the role of salt and surprisingly "Anti-Freeze" (thanks capt.rob) has in either killing rot spores or preserving wood.

I will keep my hard bristle brush in the laundry where it belongs.

The wood that I would like to clean is bare wood, no paint ... well, it's painted with a coat of oil at the moment. What originally turned out to be a casual cleaning exercise is turning out to be healthy massage for the timber.

Oh, the above article also gives you a recipe for your own home-brewed borate wood preservatives.


Looks like ebay sells rock salts for around AUD10 for 10kgs. I'll fill some small cloth bags that I will place where water tends to accumulate in the bilge or trickles from rain. I guess a bottle of "Anti-freeze" will also be on the shopping list.

Please be very cautious about using "preserving" methods that were intended for very different types of wood to that of your boat. Wood ain't wood - the devil is in the detail. Find some experienced Huon pine boat builders (preferably in Tassie) and seek their advice before proceeding (IMO).

Remember the Huon pine in your boat is probably original so that makes it over 100 years old and if it has lasted that long without extra salt or anti-freeze mixtures, it probably doesn't need any today.

Don't let a little bit of internet knowledge become a dangerous thing .

[Frank 101]

“The USA shipbuilder was finally sacked for being too kind and making too much private money from convict labour - go figure.” Or was he sacked because under his watch a group of convicts sailed away in one of the boats? Whichever way its really interesting history.

[Jim Cate]

We've visited Sarah Island a couple of times, and it has been developed as an historical site with lots of signage and walking trails. Fascinating bit of Aussie history. Interesting to see early illustrations of the island with stands of HP along the western coast... soon to be gone entirely. But some of the old launching ways are visible, along with some decayed buildings and obvious sites... all very cool. It is a daily tourist stop with throngs of folks being guided about, but with a little fancy footwork the visiting yottie can avoid those mob scenes and feel just a bit of t he isolation that the inmates (and their keepers) must have felt. It's a great area to cruise in... with some careful attention to the wx.

Jim

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Frank 101

“The USA shipbuilder was finally sacked for being too kind and making too much private money from convict labour - go figure.” Or was he sacked because under his watch a group of convicts sailed away in one of the boats? Whichever way its really interesting history.

The punishment versus rehabilitation dichotomy existed back in those days.

A couple of my ancestors were rejects from the English social system of the time and voyaged to Sydney Cove under the sponsorship of his or her majesty. One of them had been rejected for forging and uttering and English juries becoming less bloodthirsty at the time was found innocent of the forging but guilty of the uttering and sent to Sydney in order to ponder on his failings in a social environment more conducive to an acceptance of character fault on ones part.

He very quickly achieved a ticket of leave and went into business and was mentioned in the court lists for suing someone. He had obviously realized the utility of the law for grievance resolution by then.

After his convict wife died he emigrated to NZ and founded another business and branch of the family.

With this sort of rehabilitation thing common the punishment threat thing was not having the desired effect and would result in a swing of the pendulum back to brutality.