Seam Repair, Carvel Planked 1960 Kings Cruiser

[Trog]

Greetings!

The Short: How do I seal a carvel planked seam?

The Long:
Sometime in the next few weeks I'm going to pull Altair out and have her bottom re-done and get her surveyed. This past winter she didn't get much sail time as I've been feverishly trying to rid the world of sandpaper and varnish. This meant that she spent a lot of time in her slip and her above-the-waters, stayed above the waters. And dried out a little.

It seems that a seam has opened up between two planks.

It runs about a foot and a half on the starboard forequarter, from about two inches above the waterline. From the chainplate forward. Inside, you can see from a sliver of daylight at one end of the opened seam to about a paper-match thickness at the other end. Needless to say, a port tack is kinda' interesting. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I piled a few garbage cans on the deck filled with water to get the seam nice and wet, but it didn't swell up all that much over the next week or so.

What are your suggestions for sealing a seam like that? I don't think its large enough for cotton. And I don't want to put anything in there that may get squished and start popping planks (not likely, but I dig hangin' out on the paranoid side of things).



[ 03-04-2005, 03:31 PM: Message edited by: Trog ]

[Ian McColgin]

The Kings Cruisers, totally marvelous boats by the way, I've known were tight seam. No caulking.

If it's only one seam that's opened up, I'd be inclined to continue the swelling and not put anything in there. But you want to look the boat over very carefully and make certain she's not reached the age of a little nip and tuck.

[Trog]

Oh, she's definately reached the age for a nip and tuck. That's one of the things I'll be addressing with the surveyor.

I had that seam below the water for a good solid two weeks. It closed up a little bit, but not all the way. I have my doubts that it's going to seal up any further.

Dunno where to go from here and I don't want to entrust the repair to the yard folks.

[Trog]

One last bump before I let this thread whither away and seek advice elsewheres. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Ian McColgin]

If the seam really annoys and if you're going for a righteous survey later anyway, maybe squeeze a bit of Liquid Lifecaulk from the inside. The stuff is very nasty - gets over everything. Tape the area well and have an infinity of disposable rags or towels that your helper who will not be getting hands in the goop can hand you.

I'd meant to share this but had forgotten.

We were sailing a King's Cruiser from Boston down to the Cape. It was glorious. I was at the helm on a broad reach Force 6 or so happily surfing these wonderful 8' or so waves. My friend and the boat's owner were lounging in the cockpit. My friend's wife was taking a nap below. Off Hokum Rock we came off a wave and landed on something. Very very hard.

The wife flew out the companion on a low trajectory while my friend went over her on a higher trajectory to get below to survey the damage.

It was incredible. Almost all the seams had opened up and the interior looked a bit like a medeaval cathedral with the arches made of water - sheats in beautiful parabolic arches.

Everone set to pumping and bailing while I bore up for shore about four miles off. After a bit it became apparant that we could stay ahead of the water and I bore off. We thought to stop and haul the boat at the Sandwich Basin. Actually the leaks had slowed enough that we carried on the spend the night at Hadleys where we attempted repair of the seams that were still oozing.

My friend said, "Watch this." He placed a finger against the start of a seam that was leaking and ran the finger along the seam. No leakae behind his finger. A dozen seams later we had a fairly tight boat.

The mystic boatbuilder cured her by a laying on of hands.

Still made the owner sleep on the sole so if the boat leaked too hard it would wake him up first.

Back in Hyannis we had about a week before she could be hauled. We used that underwater setting epoxy that comes like clay in a tube to repair under busted floors and such to hold her.

I'd been blamed for ramming a rock, though there were none about, and my appeals to the fact that a barge had dropped a couple of dozen containers in Massachusetts Bay just the week before was not washing. Happily for my rep, wh en we hauled we found a bit of aluminum like a smear left on the bottom of the keel where the impact happened. The container was probably a bit below awash and in those 8' waves that meant the boat essentially dropped through about 5' before the keel hit.

Durable boat.

Depending on her shape, she might be a candidate for splining some of the seams.

G'luck

[Thomas Garber]

Since your hauling the boat anyway, I'd wait and see what other "treasures" you find. It's a bit worrisome that the split is close to the chainplate. Assuming all is structurely fine, I'd sail the boat and see if it swells. If it doesn't, I'd try using whatever caulking the other seams have, assuming they are caulked. As a last resort, BoatLife caulk. Good Luck!

[Jay Greer]

Having worked on several Kings Cruisers over the years, I would opt for old fasioned oil based seam compound above the water and Portland Cement mixed with bottom paint below the water line. This may seem archaic but the Cement does work and both fillers are more easy to remove than are the poly compounds. They also hold better. Oil based compound can be purchased from George Kirby Jr. Paint Co.

[Trog]

Thank you for the valuable wisdom, gentlemen.

And thank you, Ian, for that exciting and, dare I say, reassuring tale of misadventure. It's nice to have confirmation of her elegant and sturdy breeding.

I'll bump this thread later and let you know how the repairs went.