Boat Soup

[AndrewT]

In typical boat soup recipes, is the pine tar solely for color? My mixture is coming out awful dark and I'd like to cut it. Just want to make sure I'm not going to screw anything up.

[wizbang 13]

It is for the smell. Babe magnetism.

[Peerie Maa]

It is the preservative, containing creosote derived from the wood tar.
Pure linseed oil will blacken in time, where as boat soup is thin enough to soak in and is sopped up by the wood leaving a golden yellow, which darken over the years with repeat applications. May be you are using the boat soup designed for treating rigging, which comes out black?

[AndrewT]

Started out as
2 parts pine tar
1 part BLO
1 part turpentine
1 part Tung oil

Have now thinned it to
2 parts pine tar
3 part BLO
3 part turpentine
3 part Tung oil

And still a bit dark for my tastes.

[AndrewT]

Will it bleach in the sun? Or stay pretty much the color it starts out as?

[Bob Smalser]

It turns black in the sun. An exceptionally ugly, blotchy, scaly black, too. Fine for work boats. Not a good choice for anything you want to remain pretty. Use varnish instead.

[AndrewT]

Well damn. Nothing about this is going the way I planned.

[pcford]

It turns black in the sun. An exceptionally ugly, blotchy, scaly black, too. Fine for work boats. Not a good choice for anything you want to remain pretty. Use varnish instead.

Correct.

Don't know why some people regard "boat soup" as some kind of magic elixir. Oh, well I am not meant to understand everything.

[skaraborgcraft]

Pine tar tratments is what my vattern snipa gets every spring. Yes she is now completely black,but completely rot free. You could just try clear wood preserver with turps and tung oil,if you dont want the dark colour.

[AndrewT]

I'm just looking for a clear (or very light) finish; boat will be trailered and stored inside/under cover, only used a handful of days a year. The wood I'm building her with is all very pretty (to me, anyway), and I hate to cover it up inside.

Is the turps/tung oil thing just a 50/50 split?

[Bob Smalser]

Is the turps/tung oil thing just a 50/50 split?

Expensive and poor durability. Most "tung oil" finishes...aren't, anyway; they are artificial.

Buy a good quality spar varnish with lots of body...like Epiphanes...thin it 50-50 with real turpentine, and apply one wash coat. Apply it any thicker than that and it'll deteriorate and become a maintenance problem. Then later in the boat's life when the interior needs a new look, paint it.

I'd also suggest if you intend to remain in this hobby, buying a book or two on boatbuilding (Gardner, Rossel and McIntosh come to mind) and studying them. Boat carpentry is very different from furniture and house joinery, as the goals are draining water, protecting end grain, accomodating significant seasonal movement, and maximizing strength while maintaining weight. It'll help a lot in your next boat and in the repairs you'll make to this one.

[AndrewT]

Thanks Bob. I've actually got more boatbuilding books than I have space for now, and I've read them all multiple times. Apparently what I need is a book on finishing.

So all I need is a single coat at 50/50 varnish/turp? No follow up coats?

[Bob Smalser]

So all I need is a single coat at 50/50 varnish/turp? No follow up coats?

Nope. Buildup creates a maintenance problem in an area tedious to sand. A power wash set on low power followed by another wash coat every few years will do the job.

[AndrewT]

Well, that is awesome news. I was envisioning coat after coat like I've done on the transom. A single coat, on the other hand, I think I have the fortitude for. Thanks again for the help.

[emf]

You can also varnish over the oil(when it drys) to give it some shine and keep it from going black. You will need more than one coat of varnish though.

[Yeadon]

A couple times a year, I put teak oil in a plant mister and spray the inside of my boat's cedar planking. The mist lets it get up inside all the crevices in my lapstrake boat. I let it settle, then I wipe it out. Repeat as necessary. (The teak oil was Eric Hvalsoe's idea, the plant mister was mine.)

Wear a respirator.

[AndrewT]

You can also varnish over the oil(when it drys) to give it some shine and keep it from going black. You will need more than one coat of varnish though.

Really? Huh. I assumed the varnish wouldn't stick over the oil. That's an option to consider. I'm going to use the last of my turpentine to mix up some half-and-half per Bob above and try that on some scrap first. Then I'll decide which route to pursue.

[David G]

Andrew,

Here is a thread that discusses finishing options. See my post #13 for an overview. Boat soup is not included in my catalog - because I very seldom recommend it, and never use it. Another problem with it that has not been mentioned: weeping. If you have too high a percentage of tar, or if the days get unusually hot... this stuff can leech back out to the surface and stain everything in sight. Clothes. Gear. Sails. Girlfriends.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...hlight=varnish

[MRJarret]

You could (should?) read about real BLO and Pine Tar here:
http://www.solventfreepaint.com/index.htm
I've no connection whatsoever to the outfit , just think the info is remarkable.

MRJ

[pcford]

A couple times a year, I put teak oil in a plant mister and spray the inside of my boat's cedar planking. The mist lets it get up inside all the crevices in my lapstrake boat. I let it settle, then I wipe it out. Repeat as necessary. (The teak oil was Eric Hvalsoe's idea, the plant mister was mine.)

Eric does have a good idea once in a while. Oil would be my choice over thinned out varnish or certainly "boat soup."

And by the way, get those oars off of the gunwale...that's dangerous. Thank you.

[Mike V.]

And by the way, get those oars off of the gunwale...that's dangerous. Thank you.

What is the danger of leaving oars in the locks on the gunwale?

[Thorne]

Bob is, as usual, correct. I also tried various mixes of boat soup for floorboards and thwarts in my dory skiff, and have switched to varnish. Particularly in hot climates, the varnish works out much better in most cases than oil coatings that may get sticky or semi-liquid when out in 100+ degree temps.

I also carry oars on the gunwales, what the Aussies call "torpedo style". The two gripes I hear are:

1. The danger of having the oarlock horn itself always in place, as folks can get injured falling on them when climbing in and out of the boat.
2. Leaning on or bumping the oar when trying to get to the high side, or when leaning over the rail to balance the boat when heeling. The oar can either come all or part way out of the locks, depending on how they are set up and what oarlocks are used.

Both are good reasons, but I still keep mine on the gunwales. I've been saved a few times from whanging into riprap, docks or other craft by being able to just slide the oars out and row. You can also slide one out for a few strokes to help with difficult / botched tacks.

Rowing off lee shores with the sails up is also much easier, as there isn't an involved or complicated oar storage process when you switch to sail power -- just slide the handles forward into the ring oarlocks in the forward position and awaaaay you go...

[J.Madison]

Thorne, I had long assumed you were sitting under some type of red parasol in your picture but now I see the truth!

[skaraborgcraft]

I use a mix of equal parts of preserver/turps/tung oil. I dont know why Bob suggests its expensive or of poor durability? I also use neat tung oil over the pine tar treatment,it stops any bleed through and "sticky to the touch" experience. You will find much different advice given,but see what works best for you,on the materials you use,and in your location....none of it is black and white. Varnishes generally set harder than oil finishes,and generally,need sanding back,unlike oil. I agree with Bob that Epi and turps makes for a good wash coat,though in my experience the durability of that is less than tung oil.... so much depends on the material you are using. Cheers

[robert666]

Is boat soup suitable for glued plywood boats? Seems like it would soak in better than the coal tar I have used on some cheap boats. I really like the look of the old sun blackened work boats.

Robert

[StevenBauer]

The "cleaned" linseed oil from the link in post 19 really doesn't turn black over time. The floorboards on our Humblebee were coated with it a couple of years ago then recoated last year. Still cedar colored.

Another finish you could consider is Deks Olje. Wipe on some no 1, let it dry then wipe a couple of coats of no 2. It comes out like this:




Then just wipe on a coat or two every couple of years.

Steven

[wizbang 13]

Steven, She does not appear to have had a hundred hours of sun,soot, salt, or scuff? Let alone 10?

[skaraborgcraft]

Wizz does have a point, but i used a s**t load of Deks Olja on a 120ft stink pot that was being re-finished in the Med. That D1 would just sink right in ,and i remember putting on 12 coats wet on wet on the forhatch before it stopped soaking in,D2 was put over this lot for a shiny (not varnish shiney) finish. It held up very well,and as a coating "in" the wood,there was no stripping off and sanding when it came to brighten it up,just a wash down with a 3M pad and more D2. I have been using a mix of tung oil and varnish for the same effect,more varnish =more shine, but maybe more work for re-coating. The bonus is/was touching up damage,easy to do,no feathering out of 8 coats of varnish and days of work touching up. It does not look as good as a really fine varnish work (personel opinion) but its close,and if you are paying a crew to do maintenance,your bill shrinks in the time saved applying it.

[StevenBauer]

Andrew's JII was finished with Deks in 2004 and still looks pretty good:



I don't have a current pic of the Elf, I'll get one soon.


Steven

[Yeadon]

Eric does have a good idea once in a while. Oil would be my choice over thinned out varnish or certainly "boat soup."

And by the way, get those oars off of the gunwale...that's dangerous. Thank you.

You don't have all the facts, p-dawg.

[Ryden]

2 parts pine tar
3 part BLO
3 part turpentine
3 part Tung oil

It turns black in the sun. An exceptionally ugly, blotchy, scaly black, too. Fine for work boats. Not a good choice for anything you want to remain pretty. Use varnish instead.

I take it that BLO means boiled linseed oil, then that's your problem.
You've actually made a varnish, you should use raw linseed oil instead that will penetrate deeply without oxidizing to a skin on the surface.

Trad. boat soup is pine tar/raw linseed oil/turpentine in equal parts.
If you don't want your boat to darken, you must be very choosy about your ingredients.

You have to get a prime pine tar. Good tar should look and feel more like maple syrup than molasses, it should be golden brown and quite thin.
Get a good quality cold pressed raw linseed oil, this should be light yellow and look, smell and taste good. Otherwise it's crap.
Leave out the tung oil, at least for now.

Turpentine, contrary to common belief, is not added to thin the soup for better penetration. Turp molecules are an order of magnitude bigger than the linseed oil molecules so it will acually hinder penetration. Turpentine is added as an oxygen bearer to help oxidation of the oil inside the wood and can be omitted.

Mix your soup long before you are going to use it. Let it stand and settle and then strain it before use. I have a gallon can that I've just kept topping of as the soup level goes down, after three seasons I strained out more than pint of black goo consisting of soot and linseed slum (I wonder how much of that goo I've put on my boat) so now I always mix my soup right after I put the boat in the water and let it stand until next season.

Apply the soup until you get the golden hue you desire and then cut back the amount of tar. Once your wood is fully saturated you could cut it out entirely and add tung oil insteead to give you a harder surface. Tung oil must be cut with at least 50% of another oil for best results.

Boat soup will darken over time due to UV-radiation. If you don't want this to happen I think you need to switch to a varnish instead once you have the desired colour. You have to experiment on which varnishes will be compatible with the boat soup. I know it's almost impossible to get paint to stick to the tarred surfaces.

With less tar in your soup you have to be more dilligent in your maintenance regime, the beauty of the soup for me is that it's a fire and forget finish. While my boat neighbors are adding the eleventyfirst layer of International Schooner in their nine months spring prep I have spent a saturday drinking beer and splotching on soup with a horned sow (kind of brush) and then gone sailing

On my own boat I keep aplying the soup until it hardens into a black varnish on the wood, then I know the wood is fully saturated, but my boat is a traditional work boat and black as coal by now.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Ryden, I'd be really interested in any small scale production methods for quality tar. Mt Sibley has a great forest of Slash Pine (P. elliotti) which is very resinous and is a weed in this neck of the woods. So he's quite happy for me to take a tree of two to experiment with.

I was thinking of building a 200 litre oil drum retort inside a wood-fired concrete block kiln with a condenser pipe coming out of the top and running through a second drum with cold water flowing through it and then down to a collection vessel. I was also thinking about having a second outlet at the top to either refire the kiln with excess producer gas, or be able to switch to an outburner to reduce pressure and temperature at the same time. The retort would be fitted with both a pressure gauge and industrial thermal coupler type thermometer.

I've done a fair bit of reading about it, but it'd be nice to get advice from someone who might know more. I know I can also make biochar for the garden in the same retort.

I'm also interested in the different fractions that come from the process during different stages of the burn: Pine turpentine, mix of turps and tar, then tar. Is there any method for separating the fractions during or after the firing?

[Ryden]

Hi Duncan!

What you describe here is actually a moonshine still I can neither confirm nor deny any knowledge on operating such machinery.

You will not get tar out of a still, the tar isn't volatile enough to refract like that so you ought to collect the tar from the bottom of your barrel like the old tar pits.

I made a drawing from memory of the one small tar barrel I've seen in operation, I've partcipated in a traditional tar burning but that's like 60 barrels of tar and a weeks labour.


Two different size barrels (your brick kiln would be the bigger barrel here).
The smaller barrel has expanded metal mesh across its opening and an old satellite dish under it with a pipe leading out of the fire pit.
The inner barrel is packed solid with resinous wood and the mesh and collector mounted on top. This is all placed upside down in a sand bedding and the bigger barrel put round it, start a fire between the barrels and wait for the tar to flow. The temp inside the tar barrel shold be around 550C or 1000F.

It's crucial that no oxygen gets inside your tar barrel or it will just burn up all the resin!

First you get "tar water" flowing from your pipe which is rubbish, then you get the tar proper and finally pitch.
The tar barrel will also contain some excellent charcoal for your barbecue when you're done!
Your tar will have water in it and have to settle for a while berfore the water can be drained from underneath the tar.

I don't know much about turp destillation as that is not collected in trad. tar burning, but is made as a byproduct in the paper mills.

Over here the wood of choice for tar is old pine stumps from dead trees so there's not much turp in the wood from the beginning.
Scar your trees in spring to increase the resin production and fell them by winter for best results.

Heres a PDF with some pictures of how a traditional tar pit is made.
http://hantverk.destinationhogakuste...arbranning.pdf

I hope that's helpful and if you do try to make your own tar, let us know the results!

Edit:
I found some very interesting facts about turpentine and linseed oil here
http://www.violinvarnish.com/turpentine.htm

And some history of turpentine making here
http://historicaltidbits.blogspot.se...ne-making.html

If you do try to make your pipe bomb, sorry, turp still, then you separate your fractions just like in making moonshine by regulating the temperature in the colonne. BTW your contraption lacks this vital part. If you want more info on that I think we better take it to PM or this thread will derail completly

[Duncan Gibbs]

Cheers Ryden! (Oooops! I didn't mean that! Really... )

Here's what I was thinking of:



But if I get you right, the outlet for the tar and its fractions should be at the bottom and would not need a condenser. What would stop air from coming in through the outlet in either your drawing, in a traditional dale kiln, or in mine?

I suppose that if one has the top outlet and the bottom outlet one could make turps and tar at the same time... Along with char! Who said a bloke is incapable of multi-tasking? Hell... I could drink beer at the same time!

This is the retort, used for making char, I was basing it on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8133949...7617279225172/

[Ryden]

That's one heck of a contraption. You could use that for all sorts of thing + you get that cool "eternal flame".

The outlet is blocked of by a peg, both in my drawing and in a dale kiln (so that's what it's called, I knew tar pit was something else. It's tjärdal is Swedish so dale kiln makes perfect sense) when the destillation starts the kiln is pressurized which stops any oxygen getting in. It's vital that there are no leaks.
That's why a dale kiln is covered in turf and mud and why the bottom of the barrel is buried in sand.

The owner of the barrel I drew mounted the satellite dish with a standard drum closing ring.
I don't know what modifications, if any, he made to the dish to make it work. But it made a very good seal.

If you should try to get both tar and turp at the same time, I'm not quite sure how you are going to keep the pressure up. You might save your still for turp and make a simpler contraption for tar. A small drum inside a bigger drum with a hole in the bottom works too.

I know that the pitch flows down to the bottom in a turp still so you might just put in a ballcock to tap it off after the destillation is complete.

[pcford]

You don't have all the facts, p-dawg.

What other facts do I need to know?

1. Boat is moving.
2. Oar is stowed on gunwale.
3. This is inappropriate. QED.

I can't recall any old picture of oar and sail boats being used in this manner. For centuries boatbuilders have sought to minimize the danger of boat members becoming fouled and damaging the boat. Hence, boat joints always have the featheredge pointing aft; molding and trim are always raked aft.

But here you guys are voluntarily circumventing this age old dictum. Now with Thorne, I can understand since he is from the Bay Area, wears zany hats and if I am not mistaken, even is a "reenactor."

But this should not serve as an excuse for you.

p-dawg

Oh, "boat soup" is great if you like your boat to look like it is a carbonized survivor of the eruption of Vesuvius. Oil for the interior of a small boat is much preferred in my humble opinion. Our man yeadon is correct in this opinion.

[Ryden]

Boat soup isn't used for looks, it's used for the same reason the army parkerize their guns.
It's a no-nonsens, low maintenance finish for boats that are suppose to work 365 days a year in any condition.

There are probably loads of modern finishes that are better , a dunking in pox for example, but I prefere living wood.

Non the less I know of many a Dragon and Folkboat owner who mixes a bit of tar in their oil for the interior and that could be said to be "boat soup" too.

Functionality always has it's own beauty

"But since, alas! frail beauty must decay"
Alexander Pope

"What is art? Art is tar"
Jarod Kintz

[pcford]

Boat soup isn't used for looks, it's used for the same reason the army parkerize their guns.
It's a no-nonsens, low maintenance finish for boats that are suppose to work 365 days a year in any condition.

Non the less I know of many a Dragon and Folkboat owner who mixes a bit of tar in their oil for the interior and that could be said to be "boat soup" too.

Functionality always has it's own beauty

Few of us own boats that "that are suppose to work 365 days a year in any condition." Most people here have recreational boats. On this side of the pond, at least, recreational boats in the 19th century were not treated to the "boat soup" concoction. However, many people mistakenly think it is appropriate. To the ruination of some boats I could mention.

[Ryden]

Some more interesting links
http://www.maritime.org/conf/conf-kaye-tar.htm
http://www.intercult.su.se/publicati...et_al_2006.pdf
http://www.state.sc.us/forest/scindust.htm

I also spoke to a man who helps me out with my forrest and he told me that the tar kiln used to have a "shoe" under the pit. It was a hollowed out log or sometimes an old wooden shoe that worked just like the U-bend under your sink. The outlet was plugged untill the tar filled up the shoe, making it airtight.

Edit:
I found a pic

[skaraborgcraft]

Good info on the distillation process Ryden.

What some people think is appropriate,is for them to decide. A finish that is capable of preserving the timber in a boat used constantly has to be a good thing...however....there are those people who only use a boat one week of the year and like the "grand piano" look under endless amounts of varnish,and are paranoid about using it incase it gets scratched! To each their own. But to assume one is better than the other without stating the intended role of the craft in service doesnt make sense. I can enjoy the ownership of a traditional wooden boat,kept in the traditional style,and maintenance is almost a pleasure... for me at least (and Ryden)...but maybe the look is not for everyone,but that is not to say that as a finishing method itself should not be considered.

[Duncan Gibbs]

I actually saved that San Francisco Maritime page a good while back when I first started reading up on the subject. It's a good one and I like the section that illustrates a dale... It even has words on it I don't have to Google translate!

Although I do get "Traplugg!"

[Ryden]

Few of us own boats that "that are suppose to work 365 days a year in any condition." Most people here have recreational boats. On this side of the pond, at least, recreational boats in the 19th century were not treated to the "boat soup" concoction. However, many people mistakenly think it is appropriate. To the ruination of some boats I could mention.

Very true, boat soup is the dungarees of the boat world.

My recreational boat is Baltic work horse of a line that goes back a millennia and I would never consider anything but tar, I've seen a tvåmänning in varnish and it's just riddiculus. A tarred Dragon on the other hand would look just as or even more riddiculus.
I just took strong objection to your high handed remark "Oh, "boat soup" is great if you like your boat to look like it is a carbonized survivor of the eruption of Vesuvius"

Tarred boats can be beautiful, look at the Gokstadskip that is the signum of Woodenboat magazine, and tar is a very effective microbiocid and wood preserver.
It definitly has it's place in the wooden boat community. It's not for every boat, but I'd be willing to wager that if you sniffed in the bilges of Shamrock and Endeavour you'd find a bit of tar along with the red lead.

There's nothing wrong with using a bit of tar in the oil as the OP was intending

[Ryden]

To each their own. But to assume one is better than the other without stating the intended role of the craft in service doesnt make sense.

+1

And I really like the fact that I do'nt have to worry about scratches. Everything I own lives a hard life, my phone is 6 months old and looks like its been used to level dirt roads. I think a picture of my daily driver will say alot about what I value in my possesions.

[Ryden]

I actually saved that San Francisco Maritime page a good while back when I first started reading up on the subject. It's a good one and I like the section that illustrates a dale... It even has words on it I don't have to Google translate!

Although I do get "Traplugg!"

That was a good page but I think that the violin varnish page was an eyeopener for me.
I actually have the remains of a dale kiln on my property in very bad shape. Perhaps I should renovate it and try to make a burning.

I wonder how much you actually have to googlate in things wooden boat, English is quite closely related to the nordic languages in the non-french stemming parts.

Trunnel < treenail < tränagel
Starboard < styrboard
Knees < knän
bulwark < bulverk
Foot < fot
Keel < köl
Oars < åror (å is prn. like a in all)
Skeg < skädda
Thole pins < årtullar
Sail < segel < Norw. seil
Line < lina
Rudder < roder
Sheet < skot

[Duncan Gibbs]

It's a good page alright! I see a copper vat in my future...

[Ben Fuller]

Just finished the refinishing of the deck of the schooner Vernon Langille. Some 25 years of boatsoup deck scraped and sanded back. Pretty tenacious all black finish. Lots of dirt in it. Lesson: probably not a bad idea to scrape an oiled deck from time to time. We did cut the deck seams back to bright wood, so that modern goo would adhere, not feeling like dealing with hot tarred seams. They did need it. Nice thing about the deck is that there was only one punky spot which needed some git rot. Other lesson: edge nailing leads to challenges working on deck seams. The new boat soup went on hot, a gallon or more in the first round, I think we got up to six coats, smaller amounts needed each time. Much less pine tar than in the original posting, a nice reddish brown. There is also some japan drier in the formula and some penetrol. Proportions are up at the boat if people are interested. It set up pretty well so we could be on the deck a day afterwards. We may finish off with some thinned varnish.

[David G]

I take it that BLO means boiled linseed oil, then that's your problem.
You've actually made a varnish, you should use raw linseed oil instead that will penetrate deeply without oxidizing to a skin on the surface.

Trad. boat soup is pine tar/raw linseed oil/turpentine in equal parts.
If you don't want your boat to darken, you must be very choosy about your ingredients.

You have to get a prime pine tar. Good tar should look and feel more like maple syrup than molasses, it should be golden brown and quite thin.
Get a good quality cold pressed raw linseed oil, this should be light yellow and look, smell and taste good. Otherwise it's crap.
Leave out the tung oil, at least for now.

Turpentine, contrary to common belief, is not added to thin the soup for better penetration. Turp molecules are an order of magnitude bigger than the linseed oil molecules so it will acually hinder penetration. Turpentine is added as an oxygen bearer to help oxidation of the oil inside the wood and can be omitted.

Mix your soup long before you are going to use it. Let it stand and settle and then strain it before use. I have a gallon can that I've just kept topping of as the soup level goes down, after three seasons I strained out more than pint of black goo consisting of soot and linseed slum (I wonder how much of that goo I've put on my boat) so now I always mix my soup right after I put the boat in the water and let it stand until next season.

Apply the soup until you get the golden hue you desire and then cut back the amount of tar. Once your wood is fully saturated you could cut it out entirely and add tung oil insteead to give you a harder surface. Tung oil must be cut with at least 50% of another oil for best results.

Boat soup will darken over time due to UV-radiation. If you don't want this to happen I think you need to switch to a varnish instead once you have the desired colour. You have to experiment on which varnishes will be compatible with the boat soup. I know it's almost impossible to get paint to stick to the tarred surfaces.

With less tar in your soup you have to be more dilligent in your maintenance regime, the beauty of the soup for me is that it's a fire and forget finish. While my boat neighbors are adding the eleventyfirst layer of International Schooner in their nine months spring prep I have spent a saturday drinking beer and splotching on soup with a horned sow (kind of brush) and then gone sailing

On my own boat I keep aplying the soup until it hardens into a black varnish on the wood, then I know the wood is fully saturated, but my boat is a traditional work boat and black as coal by now.

Ryden,

For me, this is the most interesting post of the thread so far. Even though you keep mis-using the term 'varnish' (see the link at post #18) - the bit about using raw linseed oil instead of boiled may make a difference. AFIK, I've never seen boat soup done that way.

Maybe it doesn't become an issue in your climate... but what about the issue of weeping? Does your formula ever result in black seepage in hot weather? Aesthetics aside... the notion of black stains on everything - which I've seen a number of times with boat-souped finishes - is unacceptable to me. And, truthfully, I would think that raw linseed oil would exacerbate that problem, rather than reduce it. Further - I have the sense (with absolutely no evidence to back it up... just intuition) that reducing the amount of pine tar sufficiently to disallow the black seepage results in a finish that is more decorative than rot-fighting.

Do you have fotos of your process... or at least of the finished product?

[skaraborgcraft]

I heavily tarred my vattern snipa the first season i bought her as she had lain in the forest for some time and was really dry. She did get a bit sticky when the sun came out. The following year,and since,i lay on some tung oil over the tar,after its had a few days to go off,end of problem with sticky anything anywhere,and the locals found the finish curiously shiney. One local boat in particular does not get such a heavy tarring,and to me it looks like its just been put out after being alight....its the colour of charcoal,but still no rot,even if the water does not run off its planks like some of the other snipas.

[pcford]

I heavily tarred my vattern snipa the first season i bought her as she had lain in the forest for some time and was really dry. She did get a bit sticky when the sun came out. The following year,and since,i lay on some tung oil over the tar,after its had a few days to go off,end of problem with sticky anything anywhere,and the locals found the finish curiously shiney. One local boat in particular does not get such a heavy tarring,and to me it looks like its just been put out after being alight....its the colour of charcoal,but still no rot,even if the water does not run off its planks like some of the other snipas.

Well, all I can say is if this is the look you want, then go with "boat soup."

[skaraborgcraft]

Its a traditional boat finished in the traditional way. I have just completed a Michalak skiff which is ply/epoxy and paint,it would look like a floating skip(dumpster)if it were done in pine tar. Therefore,im not suggesting every boat should be finished this way.On new timber with a clean batch of tar,it would look nowhere near as black as Vrixlos. I realise its not everyones cup of tea, but then neither is the grand piano finish to everyones liking. Its an alternative that works,theres a 200 year old pine workboat on the Thames,and the only treatment it has ever had is pine tar resin....that in itself speaks volumes about the preservation qualities.