Ok, here's the deal......My 1946 mahogany runabout has been out of the water for about three years. What's the BEST procedure for making it as waterproof as possible? This boat will be trailered and used most weekends. Do I dunk it and let the wood swell and THEN caulk? Caulk first? With what? Does 5200 fit in there anywhere? It would be nice if I could do it right the first time instead of finding out later what I SHOULD have done. Thanks for your help.
Senior Member
Don't use 5200, period. It's a permanent glue that's a bit too hard to flex much. If the old caulking is still in place, don't mess with it. With luck, the boat will tighten back up, though there are no guarantees.
If you have access to the bilges, lay old towels, or heavy paper shop towels, or carpet, across the bottom and up the sides. Keep it wet for at least a week.
If the geometry of the boat makes this awkward, ply a sprinkler on each side of the hull for a week. The idea is to bring water against the wood for a good while.
If the pre-soaking almost, but not quite tightens it up, you can use Slick-Seam, a sticky wax, as a temporary soft caulking to keep the water out while the planks finish expanding after launch. This is great stuff. It lasts longer than you think.
If you put hard stuff in the open cracks and then launch the boat, the expanding wood will be crushed against it, and later when it dries out the cracks will be much wider than before.
Have a good launch!
[ 04-15-2002, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: Dave Hadfield ]
Senior Member
What style of planking does this boat have: lapstrake, planks with caulking...
If it's got planks with caulking this issue is likely to be an ongoing problem because the boat will dry out every week and need to be 'swelled up' before you can use it. If you can't keep it in the water for the season then the next best chance may be to try to find a way to store it that keeps things as damp as possible. A shed with a dirt floor would be the best bet...
what kind of mahogany runabout is it? if it's a chris-craft or similar type, with a double planked bottom (fore and aft caulked planks over diagonal inner layer)it wasn't made to be in the water all the time, so put slick-seam in the gaps and put it in and out and your bilge pump shouldn't be running too much or there's some kind of problem.
if it has a single, thicker plank bottom, then it was meant to stay wet most of the time and you'll have a hard time getting anything to work for occasional dunkings, whether you caulk it wet, dry or drunk.
oh, and if you get 5200 anywhere near it, unless you're planning on using the dannenberg method, you're gonna regret it, the stuff should be banned.
[ 04-15-2002, 03:52 PM: Message edited by: rickprose ]
Senior Member #935
This boat doesn't sound like a good candidate for trailering. Carvel planked boats are probably the worst type to expose to the alternate wetting, drying and racking the trailering will impose on the hull.
/// Frank ///
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