Gunwell repair? Wood

[daluvian]

Anyone know of a repteable shop, or person that could repair my gunwell? It just a small part in the very front of the boat.

[furniture 4 me]

send out a picture

[mongo75]

Yeah post a pic- wood's easy to work with.

[daluvian]

here is some pics, its hawthorne boat 20ft 1972

[daluvian]

Btw i didn't do any of the paint, i just got to boat. Someone obviously used house paint on the bottom, the blue color you see. the front gets stuck and it rubs on the trailer, witch i am going to make the tonque of the trailer longer should fix the problem, we aready have our truck as far in the water as we can when we lauch.

[mongo75]

Well it looks like the hull is glass, and the spray rails are made outta wood? Looks like you have 2 laminations of pine board (1x3 I'd guess) It also, from the pic, looks like the port sprayrail is covered with a thick layer of white stuff- plaster maybe?? Anyways, if I were you I'd fix it myself- it would take a good part of the day if that long.

First, you sand down about three feet past the damage, to find where the screws are driven in. Once you find the small either plaster, wood pegs, or epoxy circles, tap them out by taking a flat screwdriver and hammer to them at an angle, so they pop out at an angle. Then take the screws out for that same 3 feet you sanded. If you're lucky, the board might just come off then from not being the same length as the boat. Probably not though- so you want to keep some sort of lamination schedule (overlapping joints) on the new wood. SO, if you have to, cut the top outermost layer back about 2 feet so you have 2 feet of the piece next to the hull exposed. THEN cut that inner piece back about a foot.

NOW, cut the 4 new pieces (2 for each side) you need to match the existing pieces still running the length of the hull. Once cut to where they fit nice and tight, coat them with epoxy. Once dry, mix up some epoxy and thickener, I used cabosil or milled fibers, but in a pinch you could get by with either fine sawdust or even baking flour if you have to. Mix it about as thick as ketchup, and slather it on the hull, then screw the inner piece down tight. Then slather more on top of that newly installed inner piece, and then screw down tight the outer piece. Repeat on the other side, and wipe up the excess epoxy that should ooze from the lamination. Then once dry you can scuff sand it, and paint. Open beer, sit back and admire your handy work, and roll of bills still in your pocket. PM if you got any questions.

[sickcat]

I would say it looks like mahogany. Do not use pine there. Other than that Mongo75 has it right. Use good quality silicon bronze screws. I would consider glassing over the repair plus an additional 2 to 3 feet back to tie the whole thing together and seal it well.

[daluvian]

Boat is auctally glass over wood, from what i was told its 3/4 marine ply. The pilothouse is alum, thick as hell also. Thanks for info, i will have decide what i am going to do, next

[MATTANZA]

stringari

[mongo75]

Yeah Kerry, I was kinda tossed about what wood it was, from my comp it looked like wet pine, but now that you mention it, it could be mohagany, maybe even a red oak?

[sickcat]

Originally Posted by mongo75

Yeah Kerry, I was kinda tossed about what wood it was, from my comp it looked like wet pine, but now that you mention it, it could be mohagany, maybe even a red oak?

Could be red oak Danny but back then mahogany was pretty common and a little easier to work with.

Daluvian - I would consider reworking that bow stop on the tralier also. Even if you get the tralier deeper in the water with a longer tounge and stop the gunnel from snagging on the stop it looks like it will rub on the hull and damage the paint. Maybe make the stop a little larger and cover it in UHMWPE - ultra high molecular wieght polyethlyne. It is very slick.

[mongo75]

Yeah it looks like that bow stop is what's chweing up your spray rail. How about while you're gonna lenghten the tongue, reworking it to incorporate a 6" roller?