How much of a leak is a concern at launch

[gimmellsmom]

Launch was successful today - no major problems. Some weeping at the seams - nothing to disconcerting.

What I do have is a trickle (more than a drip, less than a stream) in two spots. It is on either side of, what I believe is the stern post.

They're on either side of the vertical piece below about 2/3 of the way up in below the caulking which was once white.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3653/3493822867_063516bef4.jpg?v=0

Its not enough that our pumps can't handle it, but I'm wondering if I should (or even could) add more caulking over the existing. Or how long I could expect it to take to swell up? :confused:

[James McMullen]

It may swell up, but from the picture it looks like you'd be even better off to reef it out and caulk it up properly with new cotton next time you haul for sure. Caulking is usually put in from the outside, right? If it's not better in a day or two, get a pro opinion. By all means, scrape away that gunk so that you can really look at it.

[gimmellsmom]

Sorry, caulking isn't the right word in this situation - not cotton caulking but the tube stuff (Sikaflex, 3m, etc). Next time she's hauled will be october!

On a funny aside, after weeks of "why'd you get a wooden boat, too much trouble, should have gone with glass" the only boat to be re-hauled for problems today... not wood.

[redbopeep]

Glad to hear that your launch went OK. I hope everything tightens up shortly and you won't have to do anything on haul-out!

Well, except maybe get rid of/scrape off that "stuff in a tube" which shouldn't be needed if the other side (cotton caulking and paying on the outside) is good.

Have a wonderful boating season. :)

[michigangeorge]

Slick Seam can be applied underwater. It might slow the flow until she takes up.

[gimmellsmom]

I was just back down and its slowed considerably. Still leaking but not nearly as bad - rest of the hull is pretty dry, some weeping. But much better than we expected.

If its still going in the AM I'll break out the slick seam - its my new go-to product it seems!

Flying h28 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz4vbi-hi-8

[outofthenorm]

She flys through the air with the greatest of ease .... :D:D

My bet is the leak will close up in about 24 hours.;)

- Norm

[CaptJamieJ]

Im having similiar issues. Only, Im dealing with a 65' head boat. Is there somewhere I can see, step by step, the proper way to pack cotton? Im getting mixed data from all the guys at the marina. (Keep in mind, they are all running glass boats)

[gimmellsmom]

There was an article recently in WB about caulking - for small boats, mind you, but I found the instructions very easy to follow for a newbie. Might have been two or three issues ago at most.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Well, more than this is a bit of a worry! (sorry, Joe!)

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m320/fosterhere/Tidbit/IMG_0614.jpg

[RT MAN]

Well, more than this is a bit of a worry! (sorry, Joe!)

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m320/fosterhere/Tidbit/IMG_0614.jpg
The new Lake Joe!

[James McMullen]

. Is there somewhere I can see, step by step, the proper way to pack cotton? Im getting mixed data from all the guys at the marina. (Keep in mind, they are all running glass boats)

You really must seek out an actual wooden boat shipwright to learn how to caulk a boat that size. There's as much of an art to caulking big boats as there is in spiling planks for 'em. A 65' boat probably uses several layers and oakum as well as cotton--not a beginner's project. You could damage your boat and endanger yourself with either too much or not enough of the right stuff in the right places. Maybe you can hire someone who will let you sit and roll strands for him while you look over his shoulder, but this is really a pretty specialized job in a boat that size.

I have seen planks broken loose from frames from uneven caulking and even entire planks needing to be replaced beacause of edge damage due to hammering the iron in at the wrong angle. I suspect you could get a lesson at a wooden boat school if you're still determined you want to do it yourself--an urge I surely understand. Good luck!

[gimmellsmom]

My bet is the leak will close up in about 24 hours.;)

- Norm

As always... you were right. As of lunchtime today it was more or less sealed. A bit wet - but not enough to set the bilge pump off even once over an hour we were working on the floor boards.

The wax is working great too!

[redbopeep]

You really must seek out an actual wooden boat shipwright to learn how to caulk a boat that size. There's as much of an art to caulking big boats as there is in spiling planks for 'em. A 65' boat probably uses several layers and oakum as well as cotton--not a beginner's project. You could damage your boat and endanger yourself with either too much or not enough of the right stuff in the right places. Maybe you can hire someone who will let you sit and roll strands for him while you look over his shoulder, but this is really a pretty specialized job in a boat that size.

I have seen planks broken loose from frames from uneven caulking and even entire planks needing to be replaced beacause of edge damage due to hammering the iron in at the wrong angle. I suspect you could get a lesson at a wooden boat school if you're still determined you want to do it yourself--an urge I surely understand. Good luck!

You've got me shivering me in britches...sounds scary :eek:

But, lucky for those of us determined to plank and caulk our own large boats, it turns out that its not that hard--really! Hubby, with no prior experience, planked one side of our boat, a very experienced planker did the other side--both were spiled about the same and ended up with the same fit, etc...

Me, with no experience caulked about 3/4 of our boat with hubby caulking the remaining 1/4th because I was going too slowly :o.

There are a couple of good UTube videos of folks caulking and there are several discussions of how to do it--for example Pardey's Details of Classic Boat Construction goes into great detail (and even discusses even how much force to use making comparisions of certain size nail driving into fir for reference.)

Depending on the thickness of the planking and the outgauge (oh, Macintosh does a great job of describing outgaugue, caulking, and telling us that "any fool can caulk a boat" ;)) one may require oakum and cotton--but then again...maybe just cotton.

I'm not "experienced" at all, but, after much of that shivering in my boots thanks to some people saying it was something to be left to the "professionals", I decided circumstances required that I caulk our 54 ft sailboat myself.

And, since the boat was launched in early April and took up just fine with the only places of serious seeping being via cracks in the oak keel (which are closing up quite nicely now), it only weeped tiny bits at a few of the seams before getting tight in a couple days after launch...seems that I did OK on the caulking and seam paying. Doing the garboard seams was especially "scary" for me since all the experts had said it was soooo important to get it right. No leaking there per se...seems that's ok for now. Now, in a couple weeks we'll be out sailing (after stepping the masts) and we'll learn if she holds up well in that situation, too.

If someone wants to caulk their own boat, they can do it--it helps to have someone around to show you how to do it, but if that person doesn't exist, then you just have to watch those UTube videos and get on with it! :)

[James McMullen]

I'm glad it worked out okay for you so far. As a boat repairer I maybe mostly get to see the disasters, which probably skews my sample. Hope all stays tight through your first storm.

[redbopeep]

I Hope all stays tight through your first storm.

Ouch. :cool: Hope you didn't mean it to (figure you did, though) but that reads like a slam stating the exact opposite of what you said. e.g. so you really don't think it will stay tight.

I'm confident that the boat got the best caulking job that was possible and that it will do just as well as (or better than) it would have done if I'd had one of our local wooden boat guys working on it.

Had we been in another location with access to a real caulker (someone who does caulking day in day out...) we'd have definitely had that sort of professional caulk as well as show me how to do it.

But, that sort of caulking pro wasn't available to us and I wasn't impressed with the workers who were available for caulking. It did help immensely that the highly skilled professional planker who worked with us on our boat had no qualms about my caulking the boat--and encouraged me greatly to do it myself. And, no, he didn't show me how to caulk though he did look over my shoulder when I was starting on it and advised a bit on if I was setting the cotton deeply enough as I started the project. When I worried about my ability to do the job properly, he just said something along the lines of Mackintosh's "any fool can caulk a boat" and encouraged that since I wasn't a fool, I was one up on it :p.

Given the importance of getting it right, its really too bad that there aren't many professional caulkers around these days, though. You'd think there would be, but there's not--and that's a shame.