Wooden Boat Restoration

Restoring boats is boring. Tedious. Labor intensive. Dirty, smelly, you name it. But, it is, for some odd reason, a lot of fun! There is just something satisfying about seeing your sweat (and money) turn a decrepit old rotten hulk back into a useable boat.

You can place most all 'restoration' jobs in one of two categories- true restorations and renovations. True restorations generally entail bringing a vessel back to as close as is feasible to her orriginal condition. Renovations, on the other hand, tend to focus more on getting the boat in a suitable condition for use, often without too much thought for how the boat would have looked orriginally. Which type of restoration is suitable for your boat? You will have to ask yourself a few questions in order to ascertain that.

True restorations are actually quite rare today, at least in the strictest sense. The vast majority of people today use some kind of modern materials in their restorations. I do think that the use of epoxies is quite appropriate in many cases. This is an area that causes a lot of rather heated debate within the wooden boat community- Does the use of modern materials and processes really void the historical value of a vessel? I have heard convincing arguments that go both ways.

The use of epoxies in restoration will, in many cases, allow more of the orrignal boat to remain intact. Rather than replacing a part that has been demaged, you can repair and reuse it. Some people see this as being a bad thing, but I actuallt see no harm in it all. A peice repaired properly with epoxies will be at least as strong, if not stronger, than a new, all wood peice. In addition, a considerable ammount of time and money can be saved by simply repairing the peice rather than replacing it. And, while working with epoxies does require some skill, it is not nearly as difficult as dealing with wood in many cases.

There are some techniques that could come in helpful when you are doing restoration work with epoxy. I have assembled a small illustrated guide with some of my favorites- either that I developed or that I pulled out of a technical manual.... It would be worth your while to look at them before you start a project with epoxy resin.....

Of course, on the flip side, there are those who say that resins should never be used to restore a wooden boat. There are some cases where I agree, especially in a really old or rare boat- these are perhaps best left to the people who have the time, money and skills to do the job the traditional way. But, if it comes down to it, I would much rather see a boat restored with modern materials to a serviceable condition than see one rot away because the owner never has the time or patience to "do it right".

Enough said for now. Let's get on to some resources for wooden boat restorers.

On this site-

 

 

 

Elsewhere-

Supplies

Wood Sources

Other sites

? Again, a work in progress...