Thread: 1960's seacraft restoration

ok latest update! I got stuck into the boat after work today, and got the motor out and the bilge under the motor cleaned out. The hull was in really good nick under the motor, still fully sealed. It was a bit of messing around using the engine crane to lift the motor out, had to take one of the trailer wheels off to get the crane close enough. Then didn't have enough lifting height to clear the deck, so had to drop the trailer axle as close to the ground as i could. Something interesting I came across also? I have completely cleaned the inside of the hull out now and i removed all the sitting water, but 75 percent of the bilge ply/timber was still damp. There is a lot of morning dew here in perth, and my trucks get covered in droplets, so I have been placing large sheets of plastic over the deck of the boat to keep the water out, and left them on all day whilst I was at work. Today when i was inside the hull cleaning out the bilge under the motor, i noticed more water pooled up forward. At least a cup full that i sucked out with my wet and dry vac. I know water has not entered the hull.. which leads me to believe that leaving the plastic on during the day is sweating the moisture out of the hull and collecting in the lowest point of the bilge? Anyone have any opinions on this?

G'day, could be a couple of different reasons for it, fistly remember that the moisture in the air will condense when conditions reach "dew point" both when air temp rises and when it falls depending on the relative humidity (RH) or if you like the moisture content of the air. It's quite common under plastic tarps to have condensation form, fall off, and then when the air temp rises the remaining moisture on the tarp evaporates away leaving the condesation in the bottom of the boat but not on the tarp tricking you into thinking it is coming from the wood. Or it may be coming from the wood or both.

Best way to prevent it is ventillation, I have had condensation problems in behind refrigerated cabinets that should never have "sweated" but did due to the air not moving around etc so a small fan to keep the air circulating cured it. If the tarp is held down tight as if to prevent wind from blowing it around etc i would suggest lifting it during daylight or finding some other rmethod of shielding it from the falling dew and ventillating the hull, remembering that to "dry" it out you need to "change" the air as the air in the hull will old the moisture compared to the outside ambient air.

hope that helps, by the way, nice project you have there.

Kev

Thanks Kev! Yeah I will just leave the plastic on over night and remove it during the day and watch what happens. You're from vicky point? I grew up in capalaba =P Hopefully this weekend i'll get the hull flipped upside down and start removing the paint on the hull exterior.

Chris

Capalaba hey.... a local.... i have an uncle and aunty still at Capalaba, an old skiff racer from way back he is, we have been around the Redlands etc for donkeys years, great place to be.......look forward to watching the progress on the Seacraft Chris

Kev

cheers kev, i'm only a young bloke and my mind tends to wander... so everyone on here will have to keep me motivated haha. I'm gonna get the hull completely stripped and turned upside down asap so that I can leave it to dry out. Will work on the motor in the mean time =)

gidday, the timber on mine looked good so didnt want to paint it.
Sealed it with marine varnish then epoxy resin.
Came up nice although the epoxy did show some stress marks in some places after a while.
cheers, billy

Hey Billy, what is the reasoning behind epoxy over varnish? I want to epoxy seal and glass below the waterline, then varnish from the Chines up. Does the epoxy protect the varnish? How often would you need to strip back the epoxy and recoat, if at all? I was just going to live with regular re-application of varnish on sides of hull and deck.

Chris

What happened was , I varnished the hull and it looked great, and an old yachty fella told me that the varnish would need to be redone every now and then, but if I epoxied over the varnish I wouldnt have to revarnish. So, I epoxied the entire outside hull and it gleamed, trouble was when it came on and off the trailer it rubbed the epoxy and left stress marks.
Unfortunately I sold it a few months later so wasnt able to see how it lasted. Also, this was 15 years or so ago and Im sure there are better products on the market now. No doubt the experienced boaties on the forum will guide you in the right direction.

cheers, billy

Ok I have a question for all of you with experience, a small section of my ply hull up forward near the keel is soaked in an oily residue. The ply and timber are ok, but how do I remove the oil later on in order to properly epoxy and glass the ply hull? Any methods you guys would recommend? I assume that epoxy wouldn't take kindly to the plywood whilst it is still soaked with oil. Eagerly awaiting your replies!

Chris

Thanks for that Billy! Admittedly I don't have much experience in timber/ply in a marine environment, but i've so far decided on sealing below the waterline with epoxy and glass the whole bottom. I want abrasion resistance, a bit of extra strength and a good barrier from water. Above the waterline and deck i will just stain and varnish, I don't mind having to rub it back and re varnish every 6 months or so, and the boat will be kept out of the weather when being stored. The epoxy sealing the varnish sounds like a great idea in a non abrasion environment, but would be much easier to be able to rub back varnish by hand for my situation.

Originally Posted by Ricochet

Ok I have a question for all of you with experience, a small section of my ply hull up forward near the keel is soaked in an oily residue. The ply and timber are ok, but how do I remove the oil later on in order to properly epoxy and glass the ply hull? Any methods you guys would recommend? I assume that epoxy wouldn't take kindly to the plywood whilst it is still soaked with oil. Eagerly awaiting your replies!

Chris

Scrub with degreaser and pressure wash off (don't rip the ply up with the pressure washer though!). I had to do this several times with mine as the motor had no pcv and just vented into the hull, probably had a couple of oil leaks as well. Coat with epoxy when timber dries, don't leave it too long as the oil will start to pull through again and you will have to degrease again. I did a test section first because I was worried about the oil. Have had no problems with the boat being used regularly.

There are a few epoxy coating "systems" the two main ones being "Bote-Cote" and "West Systems". I used Bote-Cote's system on my boat, which worked well. They have a book that is a great help with restoring and building timber boats, the distributor was also extremely helpful throughout the restoration! West Systems also have a book as well I think!

Thanks a lot stringy! Doesn't matter if there is still some oil residue inside the timber/ply when sealed with epoxy? Any ideas on a dealer for bote cote in Perth? Thanks!

Chris

2 agents in WA, see link for details; http://boatcraft.com.au/agents.html

Don't think you would ever get the oil out of the ply! Added some pictures in the album section (follow link) of my hull whilst degreasing; https://www.woodworkforums.com/members/12490-albums-127