Haven 12 1/2 question [Archive] - The WoodenBoat Forum

Alan Peck

12-04-2002, 02:49 PM

Seems to be a lot of interest in the Haven 12 1/2.

I have a very basic question.

The conventional wisdom is that a carvel constructed boat must be kept in the water to keep the seams tight.

However, I am guessing that the majority of Haven 12 1/2's that are being built are carvel construction but are not being left in the water.

If this is so, does the boat leak badly upon each launching or is carvel construction not really that bad (as far as leaks are concernend) if the boat is relatively small?

Any Haven builders out there who can enlighten me?

Thanks

Steve Paskey

12-06-2002, 07:05 AM

Alan: You might want to check out the site for haven builders ( www.havenbuilders.com (http://www.havenbuilders.com) ), and perhaps post your question in the forum over there.

Traffic at the forum seems to be very light, but I did find this post about trailering a carvel hull from a fellow named Don M. --

"I launched my haven in June and have trailered it back and forth to the Bay about 60 miles each way about 9 times so far. I also made a 700 mile trip recently with it. The hull has been out of water finished for about 6 years during construction phase... just got wet this summer. My sailing usually is a 4 to 8 hours in the water each time. Seams are payed with sikaflex 231. Bare wood of carvel cedar hull was primed with Petite epoxy undercoat (the stuff used for priming fiberglass to prevent osmosis problems .. works good on bare wood and doesn't let water in or out at any significant rate). So far I don't have any seams opening, no apparent affects of trailering other than the usual docking and launching dings that can occur. The paint is brightside and has a toxic bottom paint (that I don't need unless I decide to stay in the warm gulf waters for a week or so straight. Anyway, time will tell if I continue to do so well with a trailered Carvel hull. I built it. It's beautiful. And I'm going to sail it at every opportunity."