Commercial Fishing Boat Haul Out Advice?

[BrianW]

Gents (and Ladies),

I need some advice from you folks about what things I should do to get ready for our boats annual haul out June 7th. This is the first time I'm having the boat hauled out. We're going to Petersburg, as the haul out in Sitka is a bit too small. She's been hauled there before.

The yard is planning a simple 'clean and paint' for the bottom. But of course we will be inspecting everything from shaft and rudder mounts, to keel coolers, and thru-hulls.

I have no history on when, or if, the boat was every refastened. She was built in 1943, so I'm a bit concerned.

If anyone has a checklist, or some advice on pulling some screws to check things out I'd really appreciate some help!

Here's a picture again, for those who may have missed them before...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/BrianW/FV%20Ginny%20C/FV%20Ginny%20C%20Small%20Pics/ginny1.jpg

I'd like to pull a few fasteners to check things out, but don't know how many to pull, or if certain areas are better than others.

Thanks for any advice.

[Ian McColgin]

Rather than give advice that may easily neglect something - doesn't Bud MacIntosh have a useful book along these lines at WB store anyway? - may I suggest you spring a few hundred for a survey? That's what they are for. Even a well informed owner gains much from having her looked over by someone who is not in love.

[seayou77]

Corrosion of the fastners would follow a route you might find trouble around the intake for pump or engine, and ck. around the exhaust. Don't take more than one per plank per frame, as you don't want to loosen the plank. A hammer on a bolt with a trained ear, to sound them out. A dull thud is a tired sound. Survey is good business, an expensive report, I ante up every five years. smile.gif

[hikingchrs]

Couple hundred bucks seems like go insurance when you take a boat to sea in cold water. did you have one done when you bought the boat? how long ago was it?
Chris

[Ken Hutchins]

One important item is inspect and overhaul all seacocks and while you are there inspect the tapered wooden plugs that should be at every seacock and thruhull fitting.

[cbob]

Brian, You're talking about screws, but I'll betcha your boat was fastened with galvanized boat nails, and most likely never refastened, not because this was wartime, but because that was/is the way it was/is done. You probably have two fastenings per plank per frame, If you have four per frame, like corners of a rectangular box, longer in the up and down direction, she probably has been refastened. Topside planking isn't usualy done until the boat has otherwise reached the end of usefull service. Remove a bung or two in the topsides and check for fastening head metal, magnet?? On the other hand if there are no bleeders, rust showing at the bungs, she could be fastened with bronze or monel, which has been done, but in wartime, very doubtfull. The guys with experience on this are the old timers at the boatyards that haul and repair wood fish boats around your area, if there are any left, guys I mean. Hows your stern gland holding up? cbob

[chucksw]

Nice woodie trawler there. Looks like a Monk or Garden design. If you haven't had a complete survey now's a good time when it's hauled out. I recall paying more like $450 for a 45' vessel. Don't get somebody who just taps a few planks and gives it a cursory inspection. Every locker, piece of equipment, engine, running gear, lightbulbs, safety gear, anchor equipment, fittings... everything, inside and out needs to be inspected. Your taking this out in Alaska waters. It's a good idea to have the best safety gear in good condition on board too. Surveyor should tap it with a hammer over the entire bottom, on the deck, and on the house to find potential trouble spots. To do a proper job a surveyor should be there all afternoon or morning for that size boat.

The below the waterline metal should be spot scraped here and there down to bare metal to check for corrosion, including all the through hulls, rudder, posts, etc. All the zincs should be replaced or new ones fitted for all the metal. Prop should be cleaned and polished. Prop shaft checked for alignment, cutlass bearing or shaft bearings checked, stuffing box repacked.

On some of the older fishing boats that I've seen with bottoms done by owners or quickie bottom job outfits, it's a shocking quick slap it on and put the boat back in the water, because if your not fishing, your not making any money. I've seen some pretty sloppy bottom jobs. I spent 2-3 months, working weekends mainly, on my 45' sailboat to do just the bottom and the related work.

If the bottom has many layers and peeling paint, it should be taken down to the primer or bare wood and primed. Or at very least take it down to a good layer of bottom paint, and apply 2-3 coats of new bottom paint. By the way, I prefer the self polishing (expensive) bottom paint because taking off hard bottom paint is misterable. The haulout, time in the yard, your time or workers time are the big cost sinks, so it pays off much more to take a little more time.

[BrianW]

Ian,

I checked the on-line book store and didn't see a title that seemed to match what I was looking for. It was a bit hard to read some of the authors names so perhaps I missed his book.

Thanks though!

[BrianW]

Dave Fleming,

Wow, let me try and answer at least some of your questions... smile.gif

She now has a fiberglass insulated hold which pumps overboard. I do believe she used to have a basic hold a long time ago.

The main fuel tank (2000gal) is black iron. There is some rust on the outside, but seems okay. The day tank (500gal) in the engine room is also iron, but is in very good condition.

From the survey... (yes, there was a survey smile.gif )
She's planked with 1.5" fir over sawn 3"x6" fir frames on 16" centers, beams 6"x6" fir. Stringers are 3"x8" fir, shelf 5"x12" fir. The deck is fir planked, but has been 'toughflexed' recently.

Think they used a couple fir trees? ;)

Yes, both engines are keel cooled, but the survey doesn't state what kind of metal they are made from.

The 'guards' are iron bark, but the water line is not sheathed. What are 'guards'?

Don't know how the fasteners are covered, sorry.

There are naturally several sea cocks and they all seem to work fine. I'm interested in seeing them from the outside. ;)

I added a few rings of packing material to the stuffing box last fall while still in the water. I plan on removing all the packing and replacing it with some of the newer type.

Thanks for the list!

[ 04-08-2005, 09:04 PM: Message edited by: BrianW ]

[Gary E]

Brian,
All of the above is good advice. I would start with asking some questions you can answer while the boat is in the water..

..Does it leak now?.. look for possible reasons
..Are there any problems now?..such as seacocks that are hard to move..etc

The list can get long while you look at all the places where trouble might be found.

I agree on the soft copper bottom paint, with one possible adition, mix in plenty of cayenne pepper and if there are any critters in your waters they sure wont want any taste of your boat and you should get 3 yrs between paint jobs. Check with the locals, they may or may not know of this, it works well in the Mid Atlantic.

[BrianW]

cbob,

Interesting stuff about the nails being used back then!

As I was re-reading the survey (Nov 2003) I see that galvanized screws are listed as the fasteners. So your probably right, the boat may have been refastened.

[BrianW]

chucksw,

The boat was made by White Shipyard in Anacortes. I checked around, and they're no longer in business.

The zincs will be changed, I forgot to list that in my first post.

Safety is VERY important to me. I just had the 8 man life raft repacked as required by law and bought a new EPIRB with a built in GPS transmitter. I had the Coast Guard come and do a free safety inspection last week. They found a few things (of course) but the safety items were fine. I need a 'red over white' (fishing at night) light set up. I also had to install a strobe light in the f'c'sle to meet the requirements of the general alarm.

The guys at the shipyard already know the bottom paint requirements. I'm just going with what was put on last time. It's a work boat, and while I'd love to spend a month working on the bottom, it's just not in the plans right now. My main concern is making sure everything is sound and taking care of any broken/worn out/rotted items down there.

Thanks for your help!

[BrianW]

To all,

Thanks for the input and help! It's been very helpfull and please keep it coming.

[RonW]

Here is a couple of survey sites that will help you, think he has books for sale as well.

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/

http://marinesurvey.com/

[BrianW]

**You then have no idea of the condition of the structure, floors, clamps, frames, under the hold area?Correct, and that is of some concern. Not because I've noticed anything wrong or suspect anything though. It's just the fact that I can't see that part of the boat.

'Tough Flex' is a common brand name for a rubberlike paint used to seal leaky wood boats around these parts. There are some leaks between the house and deck that can be seen in the engine room.

[BrianW]

Dave,

They are old leaks from what I can tell. The whole deck is covered by fir 'wear decks'.

I've got some pictures of the deck and the house, but not with the wear decking removed. I'm waiting for a new digital camera to show up in the mail (the last one went swimming in a bay) and I can take more pictures then.

Here's were the wear deck and house meet...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/BrianW/FV%20Ginny%20C/deckholdfull.jpg

...and this is Tough Flex applied to the deck on the bow...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/BrianW/FV%20Ginny%20C/bowtoughflex.jpg

Here's a bit of rot in the hull as seen from inside the engine room. You can see the softish wood below the work light which is hanging from a nail. It looks like something was mounted there, judging by the lack of paint in that spot...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/BrianW/FV%20Ginny%20C/hullinengineroom.jpg

Thanks for the help. Hope it's a least fun for you guys! smile.gif

[BrianW]

...and just for fun. Here she is a couple weeks ago, waiting to unload about 30,000lbs of halibut...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/BrianW/FV%20Ginny%20C/spc3.jpg

...and adding some classic wooden boat class at the same time. ;)

[Stiletto]

Good pix, the new camera works well!

[Frank E. Price]

The "guard" would most likely be the guardrail, the topsides stringer bolted to the hull at or a little below deck level. They're commonly made of whatever the rest of the boat is made of (fir in your case) with an outer layer of ironbark screwed to the face of the less tough rail. Easier to replace (relatively) the ironbark strake than the whole bloomin' thing if it gets too bunged up for the owner's taste. A lot of people use that plastic they use now for rub strips at ferry landings, instead of ironbark.

Frank

[Krueg]

I don't have anything to add except to say that I think your boat is beautiful, the type of boat I dream about. Thanks for the pics. Good luck.

[BrianW]

Krueg,

Thanks, we really like her too. The harbors are full of old wood boats like this one, at least around here.

[BrianW]

Dave,

Boy, I'm about to look real stupid here, but I think I can handle the outcome... smile.gif

I had to look up 'ceiling' because you obviously weren't talking about a regular ceiling like in a house. So I learn that 'ceiling' can mean something like an inner lining.

Here's the stupid part...

I'm only 90% sure it's ceiling, not the hull. If you look in the top right corner of the picture, you can see were the beam(s) go through and the actual hull is visable in the back of the space. Plus on the port side (the workbench is to starboard) there's a larger cutout in the 'ceiling' where a thruhull is mounted. I'd go down to the dock and double check, but the boat is out fishing this week.