Clinker cracked plank repair

[Woodside]

Hi guys just about to repair a cracked plank on my clinker boat an need some advice by more seasoned wooden boaters than me. The crack is easily acessable from underneath even while on the trailer but not so acessable from under the floor due to the ribs its about 200mm long an its about 15mm in from the edge of the plank about half way along. It has been repaired about 5 years ago by the previous owner an was fine until last weekend. I was thinking of scraping out the crack first then screwing some long thin screws sideways into the plank to hold it together then injection reson into the crack i no fiberglass is wrong but im tossing up wether to place a small peice of fiberglass just over the crack and then re paint that section. Any advice would be apreciated.

Cam

[bootlegger]

Hi mate. The one thing I wouldnt do is start putting some screws in. It will only weeken that area and you will get cracks around them. Ive had succes with running a really thin 4in angle grinder cutting disc into the crack (you could also use a hacksaw blade). Then cutting a thin piece of timber and glueing it in with epoxy. I did it on my Italian boat and its been fine for several years.
If you epoxied a fiberglass bandage over that area as well it would be fine.

[Woodside]

thanks will stay away from the screws. i like the idea of inserting a small peice of timber and epoxying it in. i will also put a small fiberglass patch over the area. Thanks for your help.

[mccaughd]

Hi,

A mate of mine (used to build plastic boats for a living) suggested drilling a hole at the end of the split in the timber. This rounds the end of the split and supposidly reduces the chance of the split "growing" in length.

The hot dry summer we have had in adelaide and the lack of progress on my boat has caused a at least one split which i have to fix.

Cheers

Damien

[Greg]

Cam

How did you go with your repair?
I had a similar problem with a huge crack along one plank. I opened it out by running a hacksaw blade down the crack and then filled it with epoxy thickened with microballoons. It has been fine for over 12 months now.

Are you coming to Paynesville again this year?

Greg

[Woodside]

Hi Greg i will let you no how well my repair works after this weekend we are going on a a house boat for a week up at echuca so i hope it goes well.
We scraped out the crack with a hacksaw and squeezed some sickerflex product into the crack that my cousin gave me he is a wet sealer (he seals bathrooms an decks etc before tileing) it stays semi flexible and sticks like no ones business even when wet then he fiber glassed two small patches one on top of each other over the area then we put a coat of white resin filler over the glassed area. I was very hesitant of using any sort of fiberglas on the boat but my cousin did a real nice job and you can bearly even see its there. I have filled up the boat with water since and it didn't even have a hint of leaking from the area so fingers crossed. If all goes well I am thinking of pulling the motor out after easter and flipping the boat over and doing a proper job of the whole hull its the only thing letting the boat down at the moment.
As for the wet together i will have to make a last minute call on it as my wife and i have just had a baby as well as i have a valiant ute in peices which im trying to get back together and i dont want to push my luck with the good lady wife.

I will keep you posted. Cam

[Woodside]

Hi Guys my repair job worked great the boat was in the water for 5 days and was used heavily every day and we had minimal water entering especily once the timber swelled as it hasnt been in the water for more than 1 day for awhile i think most of the water that come in was from the rain we had Ha. The boat its self went real well first trip where i didnt have to play or tweek anything very happy.

cam

[nool]

Hey Cam,
Good to hear you had no problems for the whole trip. It must be that houseboats are a good omen. Our week on the houseboat with 'Mystress' was perfect as well. Boat didn't miss a beat... Do you have any photos from your trip? I really love houseboat trips. You get up in the morning and the boats already in the water along side so you can just jump in and go for a burn! Brilliant!

Cheers!

Neil

[Woodside]

I will try and post some pics soon just have to figure out how to do it....

cam

[Greg]

Cam
I have posted some instructions in the "Main" section on how to post pictures on the BB.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=246
Greg