Storm Damage

[Killick Greenie]

During the gales at the end of October we sustained some damage whilst on the pontoon at the Royal Harwich. I'm planning to fix this over the winter so would appreciate any advice as to how to get the rail off, wood type for replacement etc. I had thought of using epoxy and clamping the joint.

I've embedded these photos from photo bucket so hopefully you can see them:







And a nice one to finish, this is looking up the River Stour



Dave

[Ru88ell]

Sorry to hear that.

There was a topic on the YBW forum recently about similar damage, and the owner made a fantastic repair with epoxy. I'll try and find it for you.

[Ru88ell]

In the meantime....

I would certainly dry it out to start with. I'd look to repair with a number of screws hidden behind plugs, and fill the joint with epoxy. It's not structural timber, it did it's job, but the nature of the joint makes me think it would fit back together very well, and possibly leave an almost invisible repair.

[Dennis]

Hello Dave

You have many options available regarding the repair of the rubbing strip, here is my contribution:

1. Clamp and glue.

or 2. Cut out damaged section and replace with new wood using long scarf joints.

or 3. Cut both strip on sides of chainplate and remove the section, then glue the various bits back together on the remaining rubbing strip chamfering the ends at 45 degress. HM boats are set up this way, i.e. the rubbing strip stops either side of the chainplate.

or 4. Remove whole rubbing strip and replace with new wood.


I think the first option is the best and the easiest to do.
As Russell has already said, you need to get everything dry first.

You will need two "G" (or "F") clamps and two pieces of wood longer than the damaged area to act as clamping blocks. Also a third piece of wood to act as a clamping block, to push the (sprung out) strip horizontally back in line. I would use two long ratchet straps (or rope tightened by twisting with a wooden lath) right around the boat to apply the necessary pressure to pull the broken ends of the rubbing strip back into alignment, then use the two G clamps to clamp together in the vertical plane.

Do a "dry run" first to make sure everything fits before you apply any glue.

An epoxy adhesive is much stronger than the wood it is gluing, and the glued surface area is so large that you should not need any screws if you can manage to keep the wood clamped together until the glue has cured.

Make sure that you put some sort of barrier between the clamping blocks and the rubbing strip to prevent the clamping blocks becoming firmly glued to the work.

You will probably not be able to see the resultant repair when the job is finished, and the joint will be stronger than the wood it is joining.

BTW I am very impressed with how you have managed to embed the photos into your post.

[Killick Greenie]

Hi Dennis

That's a very comprehensive response and full of great advice. I will be going for option 1 and will post pictures once operations commence. I picked up how to embed photos from a beer brewing forum I frequent! Its quite straightforward and it does not take up bandwidth on the forums servers apparently.

Thanks for the great advice

Cheers
Dave

[erbster]

Oops! As Russell said, they did their job.

Have you spoken to Bob. At Honnor Marine? I know the originals on the SA boats were progressively screwed on (to make them curve), but Bob shapes the strakes on newer boats. I would consider replacing the damaged strake entirely - perhaps Bob could supply a new replacement, which you could fit? As Russell said, there are dowel plugs concealing hex bolts.

[Dennis]

Have you spoken to Bob. At Honnor Marine? .....Bob shapes the strakes on newer boats. .

Possibly one of the reasons why HM boats have the rubbing strip in two parts with the break at the chain plate. Can you imagine the waste involved of making a full length shaped piece.

Incidently, the chainplates on early SA boats were positioned further forward than later boats.
I do not know when the change occured.

[Greybeard]

Possibly one of the reasons why HM boats have the rubbing strip in two parts with the break at the chain plate.

The strakes on Falcon, a 2003 SA boat (39) are in two parts like the HM boats, so it may have been something altered before UK production. I don't know how the positioning of the chain plates compares to later boats ----- yet

Steve

[seasickwhale]

Hi Dave,

we have had a similar split on our boat. This was repaired to method "1. Clamp and glue". The result turned out almost invisble. I didn't do the job myself, so I can give no further input, but I know it was done pretty much as described by Dennis.

Incidentally my boat is als SA 2003 with the rubbing strake in two parts, leaving the chain plate accessible.

All the best for the repair.