titmouse 16 foot rot

by Eric Smith
(League City Tx.)

I have a 16 foot titmouse sailboat with some rot in the hull.

The hull is stripped planked with about one -half in by seven eights in strips.

The rotten areas are not very large.

4 to 5 areas about 6 in by one foot.

How do I cut out these areas and install new planks?

Thank you for advice,

Eric.

Comments for titmouse 16 foot rot

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Jan 10, 2012
 Strip Rot
by: Anonymous

Hi Eric,

Well the simple answer is to cut out and replace the rotten strips.

Ideally the strip ends would be scarfed but cutting a scarf in situ is easier said than done, simpler to but block the strip ends.

Cutting out the old can be done with a skilsaw with blade set just slightly shallower than the thickness of the strips so that you don’t damage any of the frames.

And if you tack a batten to the hull to guide the saw it will help keep the saw line clean and straight.

The first problem you might have is if the strips were originally nailed or stapled.

The nails will run down through the strips joining them together, and that is going to play havoc with saw blades when cutting them out.

So you might need a Carbide Tipped Saw Blade.

If the strips were just epoxy glued then no problem.

Another problem might be ‘re-stripping’ short curved areas.

Its relatively easy to bend the strips over a long length but not over short lengths.

For short curved areas it might be easier to pre-fabricate the ‘patch’ over a template on the bench.

But first job is to cut out the old rotten stuff.



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