Corking a boat

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  • Marty J
    Member
    • Feb 2020
    • 65

    #16
    Re: Corking a boat

    I liked Leo's point in the Tally Ho video that "caulking" and "corking" sound about the same in his accent. I will note that the guy who led that project definitely knows what he's doing and pronounces it "corking."

    Sneezy, what's your comfort level with experimentation? Corking is the kind of project where you can do major damage to your boat if things go wrong (e.g. ruined planking or cracked ribs). You would be well advised to hire someone to do it for you, or teach you.

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    • stromborg
      Senior Member
      • Sep 2010
      • 6319

      #17
      Re: Corking a boat

      Originally posted by Sneezy
      I can't soak this boat for a week in the slings and the gaps with missing cotton have to be address if I have any chance of getting it to float on it's own until the wood can fully swell, which should take at least a week.

      Peace.
      There have been a few threads on here about getting planks to swell back up after extended stays on the hard. The wet burlap idea is new but makes sense, I also remember reading about draping tarps around the hull and spreading wet sawdust on the ground to create a high-humidity environment. I remember watching a long planking process where at the end of each day the carpenters misted the hull with water from a garden sprayer to help keep the moisture level up in the wood. Could you put a catch basin under the boat, rig some lawn sprinklers to a sump pump and just let the system spray the hull until the seams take up?

      It makes sense to me that you would want to swell the planks before re-caulking.
      Steve

      If you would have a good boat, be a good guy when you build her - honest, careful, patient, strong.
      H.A. Calahan

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      • jpatrick
        Measures twice/Cuts twice
        • Jun 2010
        • 4004

        #18
        Re: Corking a boat

        I think it wouldn't bother me at all to hear someone pronounce caulking as corking. But to see caulking written as corking kind of makes me cringe. This discomfort extends to most attempts that modify the way words are written in order to lend a degree of colloquial pronunciation. Far better, in my view, to spell correctly in one's chosen language.

        Jeff

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        • Todd D
          Senior Member
          • Sep 2007
          • 4400

          #19
          Re: Corking a boat

          Locally what we do to swell a hull is to tent the hull from the waterline down to the ground. Then we spray water under the tenting to raise the humidity under the boat. If possible garden soaker hoses work well if you have some place for excess water to go. For my boat (33') I didn't have running water so I just dumped 10-15 gallons of water under the boat 2-3 times a day. My boat was on gravel over dirt. I generally kept the swelling operation going for 3-5 days after a winter in the shed. I also dumped water in the bilge, but not a lot. My boat had shallow bilges so 15 gallons was about all I could put in the bilges. We haul out over the winter here in Maine so this was an every year thing for the 11 years I had my boat in the water. I sold it last April.
          Last edited by Todd D; 09-21-2022, 11:17 AM.

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          • Sneezy
            Junior Member
            • Aug 2022
            • 4

            #20
            Re: Corking a boat

            How well did this work? Was 3-5 days enough?

            Originally posted by Todd D
            Locally what we do to swell a hull is to tent the hull from the waterline down to the ground. Then we spray water under the tenting to raise the humidity under the boat. If possible garden soaker hoses work well if you have some place for excess water to go. For my boat (33') I didn't have running water so I just dumped 10-15 gallons of water under the boat 2-3 times a day. My boat was on gravel over dirt. I generally kept the swelling operation going for 3-5 days after a winter in the shed. I also dumped water in the bilge, but not a lot. My boat had shallow bilges so 15 gallons was about all I could put in the bilges. We haul out over the winter here in Maine so this was an every year thing for the 11 years I had my boat in the water. I sold it last April.

            Comment

            • Todd D
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2007
              • 4400

              #21
              Re: Corking a boat

              It worked fine if the boat was just in the shed in cold storage.

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