Merriwake leaks

[ted fitzgerald]

Hi there, proud owner of a 31 ft 1929 ex japanese fishing boat, now on Kootenay lake.
She's generally in great order but having spent a couple of nights on board and one of them in heavy rain, her superstructure does leak....not too bad but enough for a couple of damp shirts and bedding...she is finished well but obviously theres water getting in somewhere, and no real obvious gaps or leaks, any bright ideas for a brush on waterproofer round the joints and angles of the top decks?...don't want to strip and repaint the whole top deck, she's a little fancy for that.

thanks
t

[WanderingStar]

Well, she's a beauty. I don't know of any such product. If she were rougher, I'd suggest roof tar. I usually send fellow wood boat guys to the WoodenBoat Forum for such questions. But I warn you that some of the purists over there will go nuts at the question. Some others might have good ideas. I recently had a cabin leak. I located the source and used plumber's putty (shhhh).
Welcome

[ted fitzgerald]

well thanks you, have found the drips, but not the leaks.....origins seem to be different to delivery points....may use caulking, paint, epoxy and then some more paint...she's got expoxy on most top surfaces, i guess it may be where epoxy meets wood...dunno, not a purist, just a fan.
thanks again.
t

[brehm62]

Well, epoxy is waterproof but it isn't flexible. If the previous owner put epoxy over planks then the epoxy would crack at the joints.

The obvious suspects would be where the decks or roofs meet the cockpit walls. It looks like you have several of those. If you find a gap you can caulk it and then paint over the caulk. I assume that you don't have any gaps big enough to need hemp fiber.

If the surface is going to be walked on you might want to use deck paint. The kind I like is McCloskey Multi-Use latex. This is exterior, trim, primer, deck, and porch paint all in one.

[ted fitzgerald]

thanks, i think it is where the epoxy deck meets the wood uprights of the wheelhouse and other sections...that could be it, will check out your recommendation of McCloskys latex....
thanks again...t