What’s going on here? (Warning: ugly picture)

[ron ll]

I’ve already scheduled a shipwright and haulout, fully expecting a new shear plank and associated trim. But I’ve replaced bad planks before, never seen one present like this. What is that ultra black ooze? This is probably an original old growth Doug fir 80 year old plank. I’ve poked around it a bit, not any obvious mushy wood. And this is not a seam, but the middle of the plank.

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[wizbang 13]

My EYES!!!!

[Peerie Maa]

Is she iron fastened? Sulphate reducing bacteria will do that to iron.

[ron ll]

Is she iron fastened? Sulphate reducing bacteria will do that to iron.

Yes, iron fastened. Are you saying it might just be a bad nail and the plank is okay? (Yeah, I didn’t think so. )

[Peerie Maa]

Yes, iron fastened. Are you saying it might just be a bad nail and the plank is okay? (Yeah, I didn’t think so. )

Sulphate reducing bacteria require wet, very wet, and no oxygen. So you do have problems, possibly behind the plank. It certainly looks wet with the dribbles tracking down the paint.
Find and pull the nail, then have a poke around. Find where the water is getting in and being trapped.
That is, if my hypothesis is correct.

[lukes]

Is there even a fastener there? Hard to tell, but from the picture it looks to be between frames. Maybe an ancient homemade tar based putty filling a dent finally gave up, or a pitch pocket worked to the surface?

Either way, let us know what you find.

[cstevens]

I have nothing to offer, but I'm very curious about what you find.

[nedL]

I’m with Nick. I would start by just stripping some paint to see where the fastenings are and what color the wood is.

[Ron Williamson]

Poltergeist
R

[ron ll]

Think I’m starting to see the problem. Just hope my neglect hasn’t made it much worse than it should have been. There is a confluence of joints directly above this where the 4x4 bulwarks (blue) is butt joined and so is the small cap rail above it. The cap rail has lifted allowing water onto the top of the bulwarks. I’m betting there is an iron lag bolt in the ends of the bulwarks down through the covering board and into the edge of the shear plank. It will be a while before I can open it up, but it bet removing that cap rail and some paint will tell me a lot.

[wizbang 13]

Capillary action fuggery
rain water trying to turn the vessel into booze

[ron ll]

Water into wine?

[Bruce Brown]

entropy

[Woxbox]

Looks like a miracle to me

[ron ll]

Fun humor guys, but any real advice? Or did Nick ‘nail’ it and we’re done?

[Peerie Maa]

Fun humor guys, but any real advice? Or did Nick ‘nail’ it and we’re done?

I am not claiming bragging rights until you open it up and see what is going on.

Mind you, you do need to get rid of that iron lag bolt, and shift the butts in the bulwark and its cap.

[ron ll]

I am not claiming bragging rights until you open it up and see what is going on.

Mind you, you do need to get rid of that iron lag bolt, and shift the butts in the bulwark and its cap.

Im just guessing at the iron lag bolt, but if that’s mostly original, probably the way it was built. Opening that up and rebuilding that joint arrangement is my plan. Just wish I had time to get to it sooner. In the meantime, I might clean the stain and cover the joint and see what the next rains bring.

[wizbang 13]

I was not kidding when I said “capillary “,capillary action draws water into dry wood through hairline cracking. I bet the wood of the toe rail/cap is wet and going down on the inside between layers of paint, picking up old pitchy goo on the way out .
Yes, too much stuff piled up right there . Seam in the rail and cap . Saw them wide open, dry the kerf, epoxify .

[ron ll]

Yes. Toe rail, not bulwarks. What was I thinking? I think rather than kerf the joint and epoxify, I’ll probably pull a section of the toe rail and scarf in and epoxify new and stagger the joint on a new cap rail as well. I’ve got some purple heart about that size. Those are actually fun projects at a scale I can handle. I just hope the covering board and shear strake are salvageable. Replacing those is above my pay grade and can’t be done at the dock.

[ron ll]

Great news. Just went down and sanded away the paint and discovered very clean dry tight grain vg fir plank. I think maybe Bruce is right that the goo from above was just leaching under the paint. Figure I just saved about $10,000 given what a haulout and shipwright and misc while- you’re-at-its would have cost. Now I just need time and weather to redo the joinery at the toe rail.

[Bobcat]

Excellent news

[Peerie Maa]

^ Wot he said.

[The Jeff]

Sometimes you luck out!

[Woxbox]

Like I said, a miracle.

[ron ll]

Finally got a chance to pull the cap rail, and much to my surprise the 3x4 toe rail is clean solid wood. I fully expected to have to replace that, easy enough to do but just not needed. But as we suspected, the four holes you see in this pic are where there used to be iron fastenings. I pulled out a couple of black needles that are the remains of the iron. So I’m going to clean up those holes and epoxy dowels into them. They probably go well into the covering board so any future removal might require sawing through the dowels, but not a big deal. Then I have a nice piece of sapele with which to make a new cap rail. Besides the iron failure, there was a failure of bedding which as Bruce pointed out allowed capillary action to get it wet. My only disagreement is that I wouldn’t call them capillaries, more like aortas. I aggressively poked around the shear plank with an ice pick and could not find any soft wood. So I’m feeling pretty lucky and gonna have a beer or two with lunch.

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[cstevens]

Hey - that's great! Much better than my project, which is fortunately nearing completion. As is my bank account... Enjoy your beer!