Wood Hull Maintenance Requirements

Hello All
I'm new to Trawlers, all the sailboats I have owned were fiberglass, so I know what is involved with their care. My question is the amount and type of maintenance, and problems with a wood hull. I tried searching the site but my skills were not adequate.

I have heard others around the marina going on about how much work is involved but I would like to hear from actual owners.
Thank you in advance
Eric

Unless you do the work or find volunteers, wood boats are almost collector items because of the work and or costs.

The survive better in northern climes, but can be a handful in southern ones.

I grew up with wooden boats and my fondness for them doesn't overcome the luxuries of modern construction.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Former owner of a 34' Chris Craft wooden hull...

There is nothing like a well maintained wooden boat...as long as it belongs to someone else!
The one time I had the hots for a wooden boat was the one time my wife really put her foot down and said "NO!".
She grew up sailing wooden boats her family owned.
She knew better.
Bruce

All depends if you want an artwork or a workboat/trawler finish.
Full time job for the artwork finish and a lot less for the work boat/trawler finish.

If we could get comparable plastic in Australia for similar cost to our timber it would have been a no brainer, but to get our equal probably would have needed at least $500,000 or more extra dollars, IF, you could find something closely comparable.
That buys a lot of maintenance, especially if we change countries.

psneeld said:

Unless you do the work or find volunteers, wood boats are almost collector items because of the work and or costs.

The survive better in northern climes, but can be a handful in southern ones.

I grew up with wooden boats and my fondness for them doesn't overcome the luxuries of modern construction.

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Man - You got both those straight... especially the second one!

Honestly Broadside, you`ll be flat out like a lizard drinking/busier than a one armed taxi driver with an itch, maintaining even a boat with a fiberglass hull. Inquire no further, get a f/g hull with no osmosis.

Really?!

Bob Cofer said:

Really?!

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Bob, with all due respect. Didn't you just do a lovely job of redoing your entire boat? Or am I mistaken and all you did was to remove the bridge?

Sure does look great whatever it was you needed to accomplish on her.

Bob,please forgive a little Aussie irony/exaggeration. I did substitute "itch" for "crabs".

Really what?

There are so many reasons for the demise of production wooden boats, I won't insult anyone's intelligence by listing them.

Yes they are still being made, yes different types of wooden hull construction can be "modern" and different than traditional, yes, yes, yes....

But the expression "labor of love" comes to my mine and every experienced boater I know when discussing traditional wooden boat maintenance.

Boating , "messing about in boats" covers a lot of hobbies.

If working on maintaining a boat is your desire , GO Wooden.

If cruising the boat is the desire go SOLID GRP

I find that it takes a bit more work than my fiberglass boat. Here in Maine we haul out for the Winter so there is abundant time to do needed work. I figure that I spend about 200 hours each spring getting the boat ready for the season. My normal procedure is to sound the entire hull to identify any planks that need attention. I then replace any suspect wood. Once the wood work is completed the real work starts. Every Spring I sand down the entire boat and apply new coatings (bottom paint, varnish on exposed wood - see avatar, and paint on all other surfaces). When that is done I do the Spring service on the engine and simultaneously begin swelling the hull for launch (pouring water into the bilge, tenting the hull below the waterline and pouring 10-20 gallons of water a day under the boat to raise the humidity there, etc.). Finally I make sure the bilge pumps are working and replace any that are sketchy. Once the boat is launched all I have to do is realign the engine after about two weeks and I am good to go for the season.

TDunn said:

I find that it takes a bit more work than my fiberglass boat. Here in Maine we haul out for the Winter so there is abundant time to do needed work. I figure that I spend about 200 hours each spring getting the boat ready for the season. My normal procedure is to sound the entire hull to identify any planks that need attention. I then replace any suspect wood. Once the wood work is completed the real work starts. Every Spring I sand down the entire boat and apply new coatings (bottom paint, varnish on exposed wood - see avatar, and paint on all other surfaces). When that is done I do the Spring service on the engine and simultaneously begin swelling the hull for launch (pouring water into the bilge, tenting the hull below the waterline and pouring 10-20 gallons of water a day under the boat to raise the humidity there, etc.). Finally I make sure the bilge pumps are working and replace any that are sketchy. Once the boat is launched all I have to do is realign the engine after about two weeks and I am good to go for the season.

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1950's / 60's LI NY, as I grew up: My family played on four wooden boats [one at a time]. Lucky for dad I was born with hammer, screw driver and wrench in hand. Soooo... very happily I became his protégée on restoring and maintaining our wooden boats. Haul late October, launch early April. Cover entire boat with wood frame and canvas in the fall, open her up for spring. We together did it all, very seldom was anyone hired to do something we either couldn't do or did not have enough time for.

That background brings me to a couple questions regarding what I bolded in your post above. the other items were standard annual fare we did as you each year.

1. Does your boat's bottom planks shrink so much in one cold winter that when launched she would not swell soon enough for bilge pumps to keep her afloat without doing as you say - "... pouring water into the bilge, tenting the hull below the waterline and pouring 10-20 gallons of water a day under the boat to raise the humidity..." I can never recall doing any of that. Last boat [the one we had for longest time] was 38' sport fisher, raised deck with carvel planking. We would schedule it so the strap launch stayed in place for first hour or two as initial swelling got well underway... then of to our slip we motored.

2. Why does your engine need annual realignment? "... realign the engine after about two weeks and I am good to go for the season ..." We seldom aligned our engine is any boat. I recall doing so when work on shaft was done and one other time after we put in new engine and a few months of use had gone by. But as a general rile... engine alignment each year??

Just wondering!

It's "wood boats" not wooden boats.

Wooden shoes .. wooden toys. Wooden thus is used disrespectfully as in substandard. In the day wooden toys meant cheap toys. Good toys were made out of metal not wood.

A wood boat being superior to a plastic boat should be given the obvious respect due. Think of a dozen or so plastic toys scattered about in front yards across the country. No respect. Of course this applies mostly to wood boats of superior design, materials and construction.

Nomad Willy said:

It's "wood boats" not wooden boats.

Wooden shoes .. wooden toys. Wooden thus is used disrespectfully as in substandard. In the day wooden toys meant cheap toys. Good toys were made out of metal not wood.

A wood boat being superior to a plastic boat should be given the obvious respect due. Think of a dozen or so plastic toys scattered about in front yards across the country. No respect. Of course this applies mostly to wood boats of superior design, materials and construction.

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You say tomato... I say tomaato. I was brought up working on what was then called "wooden" boats... in my area of the U.S. You must have worked on wood boats. I won't hold it against you. Smarty Pants!

Don't know why you bothered to spent time for writing a disconcerting post against a perfectly innocent post. Get up on wrong side of the bed, Eric?

The best place for a wood boat is in seawater under covered moorage.

Wood boats rot over years in the rain and sun. Covered moorage is a good investment for a wood boat. Not say'in sun and rain is good for FG boats either .. just not as bad.

The OP only mentioned the hull. Those that know wood boats know they basically go south from the top down. Rain is freshwater w no wood preservative known as salt. However salt is no friend to the many fasteners found on a wood boat. The best wood boats are fastened w bronze and/or monel, not SS. Like a FG boat painted w Awlgrip .. in the best category. But Poly and even oil based paint is excellent on wood if applied and maintained properly. Oil based paints are better on wood if given excellent wood prep and primered appropriately.

Your opinion Art and at least slightly acidic response.
But different opinions is what forums are all about.
Too bad the acid frequently comes with it.

Superior is in the eye of the sander......and caulker.....and plank fitter...and ...... all the way to bill payer.....

Well...... one gets the idea.....

Oh...and don't forget the rescue crew that comes after a plank has popped....

"I figure that I spend about 200 hours each spring getting the boat ready for the season."

If woodwork is NOT your hobby , think what 200 hours of purchased labor will add to the annual bill.

TDunn said:

I figure that I spend about 200 hours each spring getting the boat ready for the season.

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See my earlier comment about artwork or work boat.

Timber work boats often get slipped, spot caulked, antifouled and a coat of paint and are back working inside a week.
In my opinion there is no place for varnish or bristol finish anything on boats that get used full time.

All our varnish work had been seriously deteriorated which was a big part of why we got her so cheap.
Sanded that $hit off and re painted in self priming solid colours and see you in several years time, just like a timber house.

That lack of ooh ahh shiney does not affect liveability or seaworthiness one iota.

Simi,
The reason I don't do that is I feel resale will tank.
Hope you did yours so it's strip-able for the next owner.
Some places on my boat are coated w house paint .. latex.

I recently considered buying a wood boat that was drop dead gorgeous with lots of brite work. Came to my senses, realized how many hours annually it would take to maintain, and am still looking. It was 12' long.

Ted

Nomad Willy said:

Simi,
The reason I don't do that is I feel resale will tank.
Hope you did yours so it's strip-able for the next owner.
Some places on my boat are coated w house paint .. latex.

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I doubt resale could tank any lower than what we paid.

Varnish was shot, timber veneers are stained/bleached , some were delaminating so needed removing/replacing, or removing and painting as we have done. Simple, long lasting and cost effective.

Solid merbau rails would have needed extensive sanding losing thickness or simply sanding and painting in a similar solid colour to what they would have been originally.

We are using exterior hi UV and mould inhibited acrylic/latex from deck up (15 year guarantee on houses, been 10 on my own place and still looks fine) and on the hull use industrial gloss enamel, no pictures of shiny yachts on any of them.

Simi 60 said:

I doubt resale could tank any lower than what we paid.

Varnish was shot, timber veneers are stained/bleached , some were delaminating so needed removing/replacing, or removing and painting as we have done. Simple, long lasting and cost effective.

Solid merbau rails would have needed extensive sanding losing thickness or simply sanding and painting in a similar solid colour to what they would have been originally.

We are using exterior hi UV and mould inhibited acrylic/latex from deck up (15 year guarantee on houses, been 10 on my own place and still looks fine) and on the hull use industrial gloss enamel, no pictures of shiny yachts on any of them.

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I agree!

1965 dad purchased a 1950 38' raised deck sport fisher with fly bridge. She was a one-off woody of incredible construction. Interior varnished mahogany was to die for and still in pretty good condition. Problem was... she had been owned by a guy for the last 12 years that let her exterior fall to ruin, cosmetically. Her salon and all deck areas [huge frond deck] were varnish that had simply received coat after coat after coat with no prep nor clear knowledge of application.

As you - Dad got her at a great price. He and I spent the first year stripping off all the poorly maintained exterior varnish [man, Jabsco paint remover can sting if not careful - lol].


We painted her nice color with the best paints in areas stripped and she became a great family boat for over a decade; occasional paint maintenance required.

Exterior bright work, done correctly and maintained to a "T" looks great. If it requires you/me to do it all ourselves - then, IMO It Is Big PIA... when we could be using the boat out and about for enjoyment!

Different strokes for different folks!

Nomad Willy said:

It's "wood boats" not wooden boats.

Wooden shoes .. wooden toys. Wooden thus is used disrespectfully as in substandard. In the day wooden toys meant cheap toys. Good toys were made out of metal not wood.

A wood boat being superior to a plastic boat should be given the obvious respect due. Think of a dozen or so plastic toys scattered about in front yards across the country. No respect. Of course this applies mostly to wood boats of superior design, materials and construction.

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Yo, Eric - Prove my point!

Email today from Waggoner Cruising Guide, which I subscribe to:

Wooden Boat Festival

"Wooden Boat Festival, Namgis Culture, Potable Water...is it safe?"

1. Does your boat's bottom planks shrink so much in one cold winter that when launched she would not swell soon enough for bilge pumps to keep her afloat without doing as you say - I can motor directly to the marina, but the pumps will take 6-8 hours to slow down. My pumps are adequate to keep up, but it is much nicer if they don't have to run so much. And yes in the cold dry winters here in Maine the hull planks do shrink quite a lot.

2. Why does your engine need annual realignment? "... - My boat is 81 years old and a bit more flexible than when it was new. Realigning the engine only takes an hour and is worth the trouble.

my 38' 1981 CheerMan Sedan trawler is no less work than the 1963 34' Chris Craft Constellation I sold. Case in point. Chris had her hull and superstructure painted every five to six years. And the bright- work varnished every other year. Chris always looked perfect. CheerMan has faded gelcoat that is waxed annually [more work that painting!!!] and the teak needs attention each year. Engines each require routine maintenance annually. The bottom gets painted either way.
I still believe if you buy a wood boat in better than average condition from a good builder it is no more work than a glass boat.

Art said:

Yo, Eric - Prove my point!

Email today from Waggoner Cruising Guide, which I subscribe to:

Wooden Boat Festival

"Wooden Boat Festival, Namgis Culture, Potable Water...is it safe?"

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Art,
Not out to prove anything. Just expressing my preference for "wood boats" over "wooden boats". But if you want to take it to court most people call wood boats wooden boats. If you think that proves something then sit down and feel warm and fuzzy with it.

As far as getting into the noun thing either gets the job done and names or identifies the kind of boat. But IMO how are you naming the boats better by extending the word wood to wooden .. gets you nowhere. The extra syllable in wooden dosn't make the meaning of the word more clear or better in any way.

I like wood boat because it seems more respectful. I'm quite sure I picked that up on the floats in Alaska. "Wood" boat seems more common there. The Alaska thing could easily be a misconception though.

TDunn wrote;
"2. Why does your engine need annual realignment? "... - My boat is 81 years old and a bit more flexible than when it was new. Realigning the engine only takes an hour and is worth the trouble."

I think that all wood boats regardless of age need realignment after being hauled out for a time. But much more so if alignment was done or changed while hauled. And I think it's a result of the midsection of boats having greater volume below the WL and thus greater lift than the ends. The boat becomes "hogged" in this way also.

So if you block up a boat on the hard "straight" and align the engine to the shaft and then put her in the water the ends (especially the bow) will droop or settle deeper in the water compared to when on the hard. Alignment gone. But for a short time if you leave the alignment the way it was when in the water one can haul and relaunch w/o much if any realignment needed. Unless your boat is very old as in TDunn's case.