Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

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 19, 2013 at 7:30pm

Rick, There are carriage bolts running thru the outer handrail thru the ribs and thru the inner handrail, and nailed from the inside thru the plywood into the outer handrail. Whew! The inside handrail came off easily when I removed the bolts, the outside is still held on by the nails.

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Permalink Reply by tungsten on March 19, 2013 at 8:53pm

tape off the outer gunnel, glass up to it and over a little.let the glass go green for awhile then press the glass as tight as you can up to the gunnel then cut with a razor blade and push back down.the key is to have the glass harden just enough that you can still move it and cut it.This won't work if the glass hasn't hardened enough.You can always fill and fair the little bit that didn't quite get right upto the gunnel.