Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

My Boat Soup won't dry?

Another long winded question for all you kind gentlemen.

I'm heading out to float the San Juan river tomorrow to go put the Hanna Platte on the water for my 40th B-Day (WOW, I'm officially old, how did that happen). Anyhow, I mixed up some boat soup yesterday and gave her a brushing. Not having a garage she sat out all night, it snowed a little and was 20 degrees, the high today will only hit 45 degrees. It's just not drying and I don't know if I should wipe it down to allow it to dry before a 300 mile journey on the road tomorrow. I wanted her to smell nice for her first float off the year, but fear the wife and dogs are gonna be covered in oil if I don't get her drying fast!

My mix was: Linseed oil, Spar Varnish, Pure Gum Turpentine and Jap Drier

I probably used to much Linseed, not enough Jap drier and hit's not warm enough to get the drying done

Any thoughts on what I should do?

Thanks Mark

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by chris towles on March 29, 2011 at 3:03pm

how about some heat. get a hair drier, turn her to high and blast it. take a rag and wipe off as much excess as will come off. if you use a heat gun, keep it a safe distance away so you don't scorch your side panels. i'm thinking its most likely the varnish that won't set up due to the temperature. the linseed is just straight oil, the turpentine is just a thinner, and the jap drier is just a drying agent. can't see any of those refusing to dry. let us know how it works out. sounds like you may want to sit on some old towels just in case.

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Permalink Reply by mark hilbert on March 29, 2011 at 3:15pm

Thanks Chris, I'll bring the plywood floor boards inside and get them under heat and definately throw some towels in the boat also. I wiped the liquid excess off the chines and cross braces but it's mostly really tacky/gummy. The mahogany side panels are nice and dry. I use a cooler as my rowing seat so that should help the wife stay clean! and I'll be standing up fishing-so I hope those knee braces dry in time.

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Permalink Reply by Russell Turpin on April 2, 2011 at 8:05pm

Mark,

I don't what you eventually did to get ready for your road trip and float..but your boat looked very cool at the river....

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Permalink Reply by mark hilbert on April 13, 2011 at 7:40am

Good to see you on the river. That was a good weekend of fishing. Actually my chines and sheer rail got a good coating of dirt set into the tacky varnish during the ride down, but at least she was dry to the touch by the time we hit the river. I think I'll have to sand out the dirt and re-varnish soon. For now I'll be dragging the rubber down the Arkansas River the next few weeks chasing little brown trout and leave those big rainbows for you down south. Good luck fixing the check in your side. Personally I think you could maybe fix it with a 2 part waterproof epoxy to fill/seal the crack. Your boat looked awesome down there, good luck.