How Long Can You Leave A Timber Boat Out Of Water

[Salted Nuts]

Hi Guys,

I am in a situation where I need to keep my 40' Carvel hull out of the water for a fair amount of time to complete. I took on a 7 day a week job which I am under contract for at least 2 years which is making it extremely difficult to get to the boat to work on her. We had a lot of work done to the exterior approximately 18mths ago and I am fitting out the inside, cleaning up the engine room, replacing a couple of planks and frames, and so on.
The boat was built in the early 1960's and is planked in White Beech with Australian Spotted Gum frames and keel. As this timber has been under water for half a century, I understand the damage that could be done by not taking the correct precautions. I live in Brisbane Australia where the temperatures can reach over 30'C (86'F) and humidity ranges from 49-73%.
My thoughts were to screen off from the gunnels to the ground and set up a recirculating spray system under the boat, set up on a timer to spray for a few hours during the hottest part of the day. I would be using a pool salt mix and can include glycol if feedback suggests it necessary. I can also spray the inside now and then as required.
This brings the boat closer to me and the tools to get her finished. If I cannot do this, I will be forced to sell her at a great loss which understandably I do not want to do.
Can anyone with larger old boat experience advise me on my chances of not ruining the boat, and perhaps give a time frame before irrepairable damage could be done?

Your thoughts are appreciated.
Pete

[Wild Wassa]

In my case as long as I need to.

With my wooden boat, the previous owner had her out of the water for 19 years, going on the last registration decal of the trailer that she came on. I've had her for 5 years. In the time that I have owned her she has not been on the water, so that is twenty 24 years in total that I'm aware of and in 3 years from now, she will be 40 years old ... I'm not going to race here until she is 40 ... at 40 she will be entitled to a 10% addition/allowance to her yardstick, which I will apply to VYA for. She will raced as an aged boat. She will be unbeatable at that level, she is immaculate. I only got the boat so that I would have an aged boat to race in feature events.

In three year from now, I will open her hermetically sealed glass cabinet (that is exactly what it feels like) and put her on the water.

Waiting to race this boat has involved a good deal of patience.

Warren.

[Mrleft8]

Sara (Concordia 41) has been out of the water for at least 7 years, and is being relaunched today (Probably getting her keel wet as I type this). Why don't we just sit back and see how she does?
In all seriousness, You shouldn't worry too much. Your boat will probably leak a little when she goes back in, but then swell up tight again.

[Hughman]

There are some things you can do when you lay it up to make relaunching easier.

First, blocking and support are important - boat stands at the bulkheads, level blocking on firm ground, etc. As the wood shrinks, the boat will lose rigidity, so supporting it in it's intended shape is the goal.


painting a coat or two of linseed oil on the underwater planking will retard moisture loss - clean the bottom paint and slap it on, you just need to putty and paint right over the linseed when launch day arrives -

Keep the mice out of your sailbags...DAMHIKT!

[angsiglar]

Hi Guys,

...My thoughts were to screen off from the gunnels to the ground and set up a recirculating spray system under the boat, set up on a timer to spray for a few hours during the hottest part of the day. I would be using a pool salt mix and can include glycol if feedback suggests it necessary. I can also spray the inside now and then as required.

Your thoughts are appreciated.
Pete

Over the past 35 years I have intermittently worked on carvel planked wooden hulls in the PacNW of the USA. The last I did was on a 50 year old 26 foot hull, 3/4" cypress planking over bent oak frames and teak stem, keel and horn timber. This was done in Portland, Oregon where the temperature/humidity in the summer months approach yours (we can get as high as 100Ffor three or four days at a time). I used the following:

Back in the early 1970s I was restoring a 48' carvel planked, shallow draft, twin screw vessel built in 1927. She was out of the water for three years. An "old timer" gave me instructions on what to do to keep her "alive":
1. Make sure she is well supported!;
2. Drape/fasten woolen blankets from sheer to ground around her;
3. Turn a "soaker hose" - aimed at the hull - on for an hour or so every day under the blankets (this assumes she is sitting on earth).

This worked wonderfully well on the five different boats where I employed it, and they ranged from a 50' ex-commercial fishing boat with 1-1/2" planks to the 26' hull. I don't know about the use of additives - they weren't available back in "the old days", but there might be value.

Anyway - my $ 0.02 worth.

[Salted Nuts]

Thanks guys,
You are certainly filling me with confidence. Thanks angsiglar, this sounds pretty well along the lines of where I was headed. I was going to set up something like an old pool/pond liner under the boat to catch the water so I could pump from there and recirculate it through the soaker hose.
When the outside was being worked on, she was out of the water for 4 mths. It took just under 2 weeks to fully take up. This was in a shed with no moisture being aplied to the hull.

Pete