cracked dory plank repair

[Steve O'Connell]

I've owned a 19' swampscott dory for the past 12 or so years. When I bought her she had a cracked plank (cedar). Not knowing any better I opened up the crack with a hack saw blade and wacked in some epoxy. A previous owner had but in bungs to stop the crack from running, but when I bought her the crack had already scooted around the bung and continued onwards. Well, the crack has bothered me for years and now the dory is sitting upside down in the backyard while I ponder what to do about it. I think (no, I'm sure) the epoxy I put in only encouraged the crack to continue when the boat swelled It is about 4 feet long now (used to be 3 feet). It leaks for a little while when launched each spring, but quickly swells shut. But the epoxy hard spot causes the plank to buckle inwards a wee bit. My plan now is too put in some more bungs at either end of the crack, rout out a section about half way through the plank on the outside and an inch or so either side of the crack and then epoxy some cedar in the resulting void, fair then paint. Is this a dumb idea?

[TimothyB]

Hey Steve.

I would route out the epoxy repair along with a bit of the wood in the plank, then glue in a cedar spline. Cedar because it is a springy wood that will compress and helps prevent a crack from happening again.

You could use epoxy as glue, or you could use resorcinol. Resorcinol is better for this in some ways because it -wants- a very tight fit, and is completely waterproof. Epoxy wants a loose fit and so splining with epoxy requires digging in some imperfections on the edges so the epoxy will have somewhere to sit. Of course, you want a resorcinol join to be in a nice, heated environment to cure properly.

That being said, lots of people use epoxy for splines with no problems. smile.gif

[ 10-02-2005, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: TimothyB ]

[Adamant]

If you can stand the look, you could add a butt block at the end of the spline to help stop it from running further.