Need Help have a Few ?''s about a ship my father left me

[sailing_phil]

Good day,

My father recently passed away and left in my possession a 40ft. Ketch. Although I do not know much about sailing I do know about the workings of a ships electrical and maintanence. The problem lies here it was a recently purchased Project boat he bought from a marina. It has some blemishes and some rot in the hull. How can I repair this? its in a dry slip now and I can seem some really bad spots of rot. Is there anyway I can sand the hull down, Cut out the bad wood and patch it with new wood and some kind of epoxy? I''m not really in a rush so I would like to know all the options available to me.


Thank you for your time,
Phil

[svzephyr44]

Phil:

Don''t get trapped into "my father''s hobby is my hobby." Refurbishing an old boat is a major task. Refurbishing a wood boat is an even larger task.

I suggest you first sit down with a marine surveyor and get a reasoned review and appraisal of the boat. This will help you do the following calculation:

value of boat in current condition + cost to repair to reasonable condition + value of my sweat equity <> value of boat when I am done.

Most of the time you will discover that the end value of the boat will be much less than the cost to restore. So, unless you have wonderful memories of this particular boat with you father you might do better to invest the time and dollars in a different boat (presuming that you do like to sail.)

My condolances on your loss - my dad passed away more than 10 years ago and I still miss him.

Zeph

[sailing_phil]

thanks for the info, it is duly noted and appreciated. I absolutely loved to sail but my father and I weren''t on the best of terms the past 10 yrs or so so needless to say I have not sailed in that amount of time. I would love for sailing to be a hobby of mine and would love to use his old boat. Even if in the end it costs a lil more than buying a new one and I won''t get the money I invested back. I plan on having the boat for a long time and am not really concerned about getting what I paid back as long as I have fun doing it. As for the hull is patchuing up the wood work and then covering it with fiberglass a viable solution?

Thanks again for your help.

[capttb]

I don''t think you''ll be able to patch the wood then cover with fiberglass in the manner you envision. Puget Sound on West Coast and New England area seem to have higher numbers of wood boats and therefore boatyards that restore the wood boats, if you are in those areas look for local expertise for advice. There are several methods employed in building wood hulls. If it is a planked hull you can replace bad ones if underpinings (ribs) are sound. There are some wood boatbuilding periodicals that may be of service. A 40'' boat is going to be a big project for 1 person.

[sailing_phil]

unfortunately I am locaed in Central Florida where all I see is Fiberglass Boats everywhere.

[svzephyr44]

One good place to start to get lots of information is "The Mother of All Maritime Links" at http://www.boat-links.com/boatlink.html

This should give you lots of places to follow for the wooden boat museum in seattle wa and restorers, etc.

Good luck. Still suggest a survey - that way you will have a plan.

Zeph

[paulk]

Ask around where you are to find someone who knows at least something about wooden boat building and who can actually look at what you''ve got. Without being there, even the best expert can only guess. Another good link for help will be www.woodenboat.com They have an extensive forum just for building/repair info-sharing, which could also help you find an expert near you.

[sailing_phil]

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it

[catamount]

You might also wish to consult a book such as "Wooden Boat Renovation: New Life for Old Boats Using Modern Methods" by Jim Trefethen, published by International Marine/McGraw Hill 1993.

Good Luck,

Tim

[sailnaway]

Survey! survey!look at her your self as well.
Open every hatch and floorboard. Get a good stainless ice pick, stick it in every rib knees inside lockers ribs horn timbers ect if you can find an old Chapmans some of the old 50''s vintage books have great wood boat drawings with the name of each part. If she does not have alot of sistering to be done and the hull is holding her shape fastners are still intact well maybe a good boat to save teak hulls are a cash flow nightmare as are mahogany.Ceadar and some other woods spruce and such can be very easy to obtain good materials to rebuild with.