fir plywood checking

On our fishing trip down to the San Juan River today, we had great weather...caught lots of fish...but for the first time in the 11 years since I built my boat, I noticed a couple of pinhole size leaks coming through one of the side panels...

The panels were originally coated with West System epoxy..but no fiberglass except on the bottom

So....do I take off the handrails / chine and strip off the paint, apply a layer of fiberglass..... or just sand the exterior and repaint?   any thoughts or experience with?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Heskett on March 18, 2013 at 11:04am

Russell, What did you end up doing? I have a 1971 drift boat I'm restoring and plan to strip the paint off the exterior and glass. I'm also wondering if I should remove the handrail or just glass below it and leave it in place. Check out my blog for pics of the boat.

Mark

Permalink Reply by Josh Wieschowski on March 18, 2013 at 11:08am

Im rather inexperienced but if it were mine, I would take er down to wood on the exterior and then add glass and repaint. That way you rest assured that you didnt skimp and can go worry free for another "x" years!

Sorry to here that though. Good luck on your repair.

Permalink Reply by Russell Turpin on March 18, 2013 at 11:15am

I never did anything to the boat...yet.

I do think that I will strip off the handrails...grind off the chine boards ...fill in where needed.and then take on the task of glassing the exterior.

I will probably need to grind off the graphite impregnated glass that is on the bottom

Permalink Reply by Mark Heskett on March 18, 2013 at 1:24pm

Yeah  I'm planing on r & r the chine rails but the exterior handrail is nailed from the inside with bronze ring shanks and I'm afraid it might do more damage than good to remove. I'm thinking on glassing from the handrail down. Do you think its possible to glass the sides in a vertical position or should the boat be tiped on it's sides to lay the glass and epoxy flat?

Permalink Reply by Russell Turpin on March 18, 2013 at 1:47pm

I glassed the second boat I built and All of that work was completed while the boat was upside down....its the only way I would attempt it

Permalink Reply by Dave Z on March 18, 2013 at 2:04pm

Two options if it were mine.

1. leave it alone.  if no rot, and you are able to store it nice and dry, probably wont turn into rot.

2. You didn't say where the leaks are- but I assume near the chine area. Depending on how badly it is beat up, may be due for new chine caps.  if so, get them off and assess the damage.  sand it down under the caps, epoxy coat it, 5200 the hell out of it, new caps.

Permalink Reply by Russell Turpin on March 18, 2013 at 2:18pm

The boat was built in 1999..in a garage always..no rot...chines are super solid

The pin hole leaks are up on the side panel 6-8"...and it does not always happen(?) but they are self sealing after a bit of time in the water

Permalink Reply by Troy Nicolls on March 18, 2013 at 9:38pm

My old refurb did the same thing. My sides are a bit rotten. I don't care as I'll wrap it around a rock some day anyway. I pulled my chine caps, sanded off the paint 4" up the sides from the chine and applied 4" tape and epoxy. I used graphite in the last coat, masked to a clean line 4 " from the chine and repainted above the mask line. Looks real good and no leaks where I glassed. However, I wish I would have used 6" glass as I still have leaks above the glassed area when I load my boat down. If I wanted to keep the boat forever, I would at least glass the whole sides or even replace them. Yours sound fine to me.

troy

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on March 18, 2013 at 10:44pm

Silicon Bronze ring shank nails can be easily cut off with a thin bladed kittens paw, sort of like a cat's paw pry bar but much smaller and sharpened on the end. Did you know that you can put a number four frame in where a number six should be and that you can also put one of them in backwards? That's how I know what can be done with a kittens paw. Takagi was the brand that I used to sell. There are several brands now available. Look for Japanese woodworking tools on the net or visit a good wood working store to find one.

Rick Newman

Permalink Reply by Mark Heskett on March 19, 2013 at 12:41pm

So Rick you think I should remove the outside handrail and then glass under it.  Sorry for hi jacking your discussion Russell.

Permalink Reply by Russell Turpin on March 19, 2013 at 1:15pm
I would remove the handrail just to make the fiberglassing easier and cleaner....my 2 cents worth
Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on March 19, 2013 at 7:02pm

2 cents more for Russell's suggestion. Cleaner, lets you avoid getting fiberglass on the rails, makes a clean edge at the top of your panel and I found it quite easy to actually to cut off the nails and remove the frames. You can pop the heads back through plywood and put a new one back into the new frame member. Are the nails going in from both sides? You could replace them with bolts for a more removable future situation.

Rick Newman

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