Cold Molded Schooner & Water Infiltration

[N Wilkens]

I recently relaunched a schooner I purchased and hauled out in Feburary 2003. The 1930 JGA schooner is 43' LOD and was cold-molded using a cedar stripping/West System method in or around 1985-1990. After being launched, water entered the boat (surprise!) almost immediately.

I hauled the boat out again to research the leak. I believe the leak is through or alongside the rudder post tube (for lack of a better nautical term). Removing the gudgeon at the base of the keel to remove the rudder , water came out of the bolt holes. Not much, but enough for me to ponder this question:

In a cold-molded wooden boat, what is the impact of having water between the bilge and cold molded sheathing?

If this were a wooden boat, sitting around, manning the bilge pump for a few days to a week and waiting for the wood to swell after some time on land is a normal undertaking. But I feel the same approach cannot be applied to a cold-molded boat. Anyone have any thoughts or insights regarding this subject?

Many thanks in advance.

[Thomas Garber]

I have no first hand experience with cold molding, but it sounds like the water infiltration indicates you have delamination of the cold molding. I'm told this will lead to rot.

[Buddy]

Does this mean she was cold molded over the existing carvel hull with veneer s, or plywood, rather than recaulked or replanked to make her seaworthy and tight. A leak at the rudder tube might be because something is moving under load, not just leaking from a poor seal. In any even, if the leak area is under water, then all the surfaces involved, at least in the proximity would be far wetter than any rot could endure. Worms could be a remote problem, but I wouldn't lose sleep worrying about rot betwwen now and the next bottom painting haulout. Can you sure from inside the rudder tube is good and stout and won't open to a "serious"size flooding?

[Zane Lewis]

First up I am no boat builder but I have had a little to do with cold molding etc.

I would be very uncomfortable about water getting into my coldmolded skins.
The wood can start to expand and crack the glue joints depending upon wood thickness and expansion rates. Assuming the skins are all sealed moisture will move up the planks and will start to stess the glue joints. I am not sure about rot as you are dealing with salt water?. Any fresh water ingress above the water line will lead to rot in a cold molded hull given enough time.

In most epoxy books they talk about the importance of sealing all the timber in the structure.

I would be inclined to pay someone to have a look rather than rely on my own experiance and judgment here as the consequences are great. (Risk/Benefit)
Sorry !!
Zane

[SailBoatDude]

This is a classic example of why good wood and good repairs in the techniques used for the original construction should be held firmly, instead of the "cheaper" way to go.

Cold molding around a hull that is going to "work" it's parts, as in traditional construction techniques, will have to have a molded skin strong enough to stop the movement or be strong enough to contain the rotting mess once the new skin gets broken away from it's brothers.

I've yet to find any coating, skinning or "modern" technique that can keep from being breached. Epoxy relies strongly on the need to keep the wood dry and stable, hence the reason we coat every square inch several times with the goo. Cold molding over a hull requires the same thing. Once the breach happens (and it will), water gets in and the rest is a matter of time.

The breach may be in your case a rudder shaft tube seal that gave up, was worn through or poorly done. That tube needed to be epoxied and glassed to the skin to keep the water from the end grain of the molding layers. This would be a reasonable place for a break down in the coating, as would other thru hull areas, providing a bee line to the bilge.

Call a surveyor or boatsmith and have a look see. If the damage has been caught soon enough it may not be all that bad a fix. If the delamination is wide spread, then buy a good router.