Pitch - Up close and personal

[S/V Laura Ellen]

I poured the pitch in the bilge today.

Chipped the pitch out of the 5 gallon pail, heated the pitch in small batches and then poured the pitch into the bilge area where water could collect without draining toward the pumps (at the joint between the fames, keel and floors).

http://www.aylard.ca/images/melting%20pitch.JPG

http://www.aylard.ca/images/pitch_1.JPG

http://www.aylard.ca/images/pitch_3.JPG

In case you are wondering the pitch smells like hash oil when it is heated (don't ask how I know:cool:).

[Thorne]

Duuude! Looks groovey...

[Larks]

"In case you are wondering the pitch smells like hash oil when it is heated"

How expensive as the pitch?

[S B]

"In case you are wondering the pitch smells like hash oil when it is heated"

How expensive as the pitch?
Either you are buying your pitch or hash oil in the wrong place.;)

[S/V Laura Ellen]

"In case you are wondering the pitch smells like hash oil when it is heated"

How expensive as the pitch?

We did consider repackaging the pitch in smaller volumes, but decided to stay out of the after market drug business.

The pitch was $250 for a 5 gallon pail.

[Paul Pless]

Dude, Jo is gonna be so pissed when she sees what you've done to her skillet.:p:eek:;)

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Dude, Jo is gonna be so pissed when she sees what you've done to her skillet.

You think I have a death wish:eek:, the pot was borrowed:D.
It's stainless steel, so it should clean up just fine:cool:.

[Captain Blight]

And this was done why?

[S/V Laura Ellen]

And this was done why?

You mean poring the pitch?

The joint between the frame, keel and floor creates a hollow area that can collect water. Water in these ares will cause rot. The pitch fills the hollow areas and allows the water to flow to the lowest point in the bilge where the bilge pumps can get rid of it.

[gimmellsmom]

So, if I understand correctly pitch is like tar only more solid?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_(resin)

Does the boat need to be completely dried out to do this? I can see why you would do it. Is there any risk of it cracking in our cold winters?

[Tom Robb]

This summer I chopped/pried pitch out of the bilge of an old rowboat. It was loose and there was quite a soggy mess under it.
Perhaps it would have worked if it had remained sort of pliable. The wood moved; the pitch didn't.

[Thorne]

Tom voices my exact question as to why pitch vs tar, but can we assume that the larger boat would flex/move less than a rowboat, so the pitch would stay stuck to the planks?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Oh, goody, I can get boring about this!

Bitumen/asphalt melts at around 150 deg C and is an oil by product; pitch melts around 250 deg C and is a by product of coking coal for use in steel making.

(The main commercial use for pitch is to make anodes used in aluminium smelting.)

Bitumen softens - as many of us will recall - at the sort of temperatures reached on a fine summer's day, so if a boat has bitumen in the bilges it can soften and slowly "run" (well, crawl, anyway) downhill.

Tom - I wonder if that old rowboat was leaking before the pitch was run in - it's not usual to do this in rowboats.

I ran pitch into Mirelle's ends a few years ago. Middle of the boat is cement.

[SaltyD from BC]

The pitch was $250 for a 5 gallon pail.

Who's your dealer Allan? :D Seriously, I think I've seen small cans of pitch but no the 5 galon bucket. Buying like you did makes pretty cheap boat goop actually :cool:

[Gary E]

You mean poring the pitch?

The joint between the frame, keel and floor creates a hollow area that can collect water. Water in these ares will cause rot. The pitch fills the hollow areas and allows the water to flow to the lowest point in the bilge where the bilge pumps can get rid of it.

So do weep holes...but then you'd not have poured $250 of crap into the bottom of your boat

[Tom Robb]

Andrew,
I know but a tiny bit of her history (a few weeks this past summer.) She's alleged to be 113 years old and a dinghy part of an 1895(ish?) America's Cup defense involved with a boat named Pocahontas, so God knows when the stuff was poured into the bilge or what was there at the time.
Tom

[S B]

I have a question. Are you pouring straight pitch or modified with a little tar? Here,coal tar pitch will smash like a glass bottle, in the winter. Just curious.

[S/V Laura Ellen]

I have a question. Are you pouring straight pitch or modified with a little tar? Here,coal tar pitch will smash like a glass bottle, in the winter. Just curious.

Straight pitch, thats what was used originally. Weep holes would have been difficult since it's hard to reach these areas once the interior is completed. I figure it's better to fill the voids than to worry about keeping weep holes clean and there would no way of pumping the water from the voids along the garboard at the deepest part of the keel.

I figure it worked for 70 years so if I got another 70 years it would be fine.

[redbopeep]

Straight pitch, thats what was used originally. Weep holes would have been difficult since it's hard to reach these areas once the interior is completed. I figure it's better to fill the voids than to worry about keeping weep holes clean and there would no way of pumping the water from the voids along the garboard at the deepest part of the keel.

I figure it worked for 70 years so if I got another 70 years it would be fine.

Looks like you did what we did--only our "fill" material 78 years ago was paraffin. I spent a couple days heating and pouring a mixture of paraffin and beeswax in the same manner.