Home Forums Reply To: Wooden boat repair help needed.

#21444
Oliver Shaw
Moderator

I think it likely that this will be a reasonably simple repair,  but it is difficult to be certain from the photos.   However it looks to be a case only of water lifting the varnish;   I cannot see any evidence of water penetrating between different pieces of wood.

In any scenario a good first step would seem to be to remove the lifted varnish and allow the underlying wood to dry out thoroughly.   If you can arrange indoor storage,  even if only temporarily while you are working on her,  that will be an immense help.

First use a heat gun and a tungsten carbide scraper to remove the varnish;   then dry the boat out;    then,  when you start sanding the wood,  also sand the surrounding varnish to a feather edge.

I would confidently expect the boat to have been built using epoxy as the adhesive,  so I would expect that once the wood is exposed and thoroughly dried out you will find that both the wood and the joints are still perfectly sound;   but you do of course need to check this.

Provided the wood is sound it is then a case of sanding it smooth and then making good the finish.   It is worth using epoxy first as a sealer;   possibly choose Smith’s CPES,  which appears to be formulated specifically for this role (unlike other epoxies,  which are designed more as adhesives and which do this as an incidental feature,  and perhaps penetrate less well).   However I have never used CPES myself,  but it is extensively advertised in Classic Boat,  and from what I have read I am impressed  –  and expect to use it in the future.   The one drawback is that the smallest pack size is 1 litre,  which is probably far more than you need for this one repair.  https://www.makewoodgood.co.uk/product/cpes-clear-penetrating-epoxy-sealer/

Then build up your varnish on top of the epoxy once it has cured.   If your existing finish is two-pot,  which I would expect on a series 2 boat,  stay with 2-pot.

Build up successive coats extending progressively further and further over your sanded feather edge of the surrounding sound varnish.   Once you have built up the damaged area  –  I suggest a minimum of six coats on top of the epoxy  –  it would be worth then sanding down the entire brightwork and giving her a further two coats overall.   That is for reasons of both beauty and protection;   if the varnish has already failed in one area it is fair to assume that other areas will follow unless you pre-empt that by preventative maintenance.

If you do find that more extensive work is needed much will depend on your woodworking skills and facilities;   but I think it likely that the above will be sufficient.

If you want a professional boatbuilder/repairer in the north-west,  although he is not in Manchester,  I can warmly recommend Tim Harper for actual structural work;   although I think it fair to say that his speciality is the woodwork rather than the painting and varnishing.   He built my last GP14 for me,  heavily bespoke as a cruising boat,  and I went to him because I was impressed with another boat he had built.

For the best available paintwork and varnishwork I can recommend Paintcraft,  of Nottingham,  having also seen some of their work.   They are the headline name,  and they also do repairs,  although I have never seen any of their repairs at first hand.

Just to make absolutely clear,  the above are my purely personal recommendations,  based on having seen some of their work;   I do not think the Association would wish to recommend any one of our registered boatbuilders as against any others!

There are several other boatbuilders registered with the Association,  who advertise on the website or in Mainsail,  and who I gather are all highly respected;   but I happen not to have had any dealings with them.

Hope this helps,

 

Oliver