what is the best caulking for my boat

[maury]

I have a 1966 16' Century Resorter. The hull was replaced 10 years ago using Dolfinite for the bedding compound. I believe that Lifecaulk was used between the planks. This winter my carburetor leaked gas into the bilge and leaked through the hull where the caulking was. Needless to say I have somewhat of a mess. The old caulking split and I have been cleaning it out. The boat has been dry all winter in storage. The gap between the planks are less than 5/32". Now the questions 1. what is the best way to clean the bilge other than pressure washing. 2. How should I treat the portion of the hull planking that has oil saturation. Would using a Dremmel tool with a router bit work? 3. Should I swell the planking before caulking or caulk and then swell? 4. What is the best product to use for the caulking.

I appreciate any help you might have, I would like to use the boat soon.

[Gary E]

Welcome to the forum...
It's a hoot at times and some good info along the way too...

This can of worms just keeps re opening it self ....

Letz doit one mo time... smile.gif

Read this.....
http://www.woodenboat-ubb.co m/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011758&p= (http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011758&p=)

[ 06-17-2005, 01:37 PM: Message edited by: Gary E ]

[Hollingsworth]

Originally posted by Gary E:
Welcome to the forum...
It's a hoot at times and some good info along the way too...

This can of worms just keeps re opening it self ....

Letz doit one mo time... smile.gif

Read this.....
http://www.woodenboat-ubb.co m/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011758&p= (http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011758&p=)Regarding the above link, I would add that I am proceeding with caution. (No power tools.) Have ordered replacement caulking & caulking irons and will post updates as this "reefer madness" continues. (Thanks to all for replying (and e-mailing, you know who you are.)

[pcford]

Regarding previous post. Repeat after me: Typical runabouts have seam batten or double planked seams and are not caulked in the normal way. (or "corked" as some prefer to say for some reason.)

To answer your questions:
Steam cleaning is the best way to clean bilges. It's unpleasant and you can't see much while doing it.

A seam gap of 5/32 is not a huge amount. I would try to swell the boat up. Put the plug in the boat and put 3 inches of water over the keel. Spray water around the rest of hull. Repeat until the hull tightens.

I would try Slick Seam before I tried any further seam compound.

A hull which shrinks will swell. Let that be the overriding guide.

Set the waybay machine~~~~~~~~~

I was doing a horn timber/shaft log repair on a old (late 20's) cruiser. Maybe 35 40 ft. Anyway the boat had been out on the hard at Shilshole West. It was the height of summer and the surface there is asphalt. The boat had been out of the water for about three weeks.

Well, the day came for the boat to go back in the water. I arranged to set in slings for 2 or 3 hours. Now, the owner was this wiry, twitchy, nervous guy. The boat was launched and was lying in slings. We went on board. I opened a hanging locker and you could see a series of cascades coming down the inside of boat from the seams. The owner started to run ineffectually from one end of boat to the other. The boat had electric bilge pumps and one of those old fashioned bronze wobble pumps which you pump by moving a handle from side to side.

The owner was freaking and generally being of no help whatsoever. So I said, "Richard, man the wobble pump." The handle flew back and forth in a blur. Kept him occupied for a couple hours 'til seepage had slowed down enough for us to leave the slings and be towed to our slip.

Keeping a boat floating is easy. Keeping it looking good is hard.

[Andreas Jordahl Rhude]

Have you contacted the Century Boat Club? Many folks have probably encountered the same issues. Is this a single layer bottom typical of Century OR did the repacement a decade ago put a two layer bottom on it?

Centruy BOat Club
P.O. Box 761
Manistee, MI 49660
www.centuryboatclub.com (http://www.centuryboatclub.com)

[WoodenBNut]

Oh - Oh!! oil & gas leaked between the planks and the old Life Caulk split and some is coming out. Well, you gotta get the oil/gas and old split/coming loose Life Caulk out between the plank seams. Those planks seams need to be clean - clean bare wood - before you put more Life caulk back in or it will not stick to the seams. I woudl try (Dawn dish wasking liquid, also maybe a liquid degreaser (careful here because if you use it full strength it could be harmful to paint, etc. - dilute it per instructions first with water) Then maybe a pressure washer set on the lowest pressure you can get to avoid destroying any wood. Yes, as steam cleaner would be great too. After all that, let the thing dry out and see if you can get something between those seams to scrape between the seams to get a fresh/clean wood surface before you recaulk with teh Life caulk.

[Bayboat]

Boy, old myths and misinformation really do die hard. A prime example is "caulk." THE GOOP THAT COMES IN A TUBE IS NOT CAULKING MATERIAL, ALTHOUGH A LOT OF IT IS CALLED "CAULK." THAT'S A PRIME MISNOMER AND UNDER A POLICY OF HONEST LABELLING IT WOULD NOT BE PRACTISED. It is correctly called seam compound or stopping. "Caulk" or caulking material is either cotton or oakum, in parts of the world jute or coir. It's the stuff that keeps the water out. Seam compound or stopping does not. It just smooths the surface of the seam. Wide seams cannot be made watertight with goop from a tube, despite what it says on some labels. They must either be narrowed by swelling the planks, or true caulking must be done, preferably by someone who knows what he is doing.

[WoodenBNut]

BayBoat --
Yes, I agree - the polyurethanes & polysulfides(are really adhesives rather than caulk) are the wrong thing to use for caulk in this situation. But, I sounds like someone already "caulked" the seams with a polysulfide (Life Caulk). If that is true, then I would suspect that unless you are going to completely reef out every bit of Life Caulk (probably means complete disassembly of the boat), then maybe (and I do empahsize the "maybe") the thing to do would be to just attempt a temporary repair/fix by cleaning the areas of Life Caulk that are loose and just recaulk those areas. However, if you are doing a complete restoration, then that is another story and you will probably be removing all the planks and doing a proper caulking job. Possibly, some planks could be have their edges already damaged from the hard adhesive that is in there now?