Bungs or no bungs

[Joe Hjelmstad]

I am restoring a 16 ft 1941 deluxe utility that appears to be pretty original. It has had repairs made to topside planks on one side but the decks, sides, transom, and bottom appear to be pretty original. My question is regarding the sides. The decks have bungs filling all of the faster holes but then sides and transom are filler of some sort. Would the sides originally have been bunged like the decks or were they originally filler?

All the fasteners I have removed so far have been slotted brass which leads me to believe they are original. I have not pulled many on the sides yet so I'm not certain if they were refit.

Thanks in advance!

[Bilge Rat]

Pretty sure all varnished planks, deck, transom and hull sides would have been bunged in 1941. It might be that over the years so much sanding was done to the hull sides, the planks are now too thin to hold a bung. Might take a bit of non-destructive detective work to verify if that's the case.

[Kerry Price]

The topside and transom planks should all have wooden bungs. Not a filler. Your post wasn't clear whether you have already removed any of the topsides bungs. What did you find? I can't think of any substitute for wood that would take stain and varnish and blend with the planks. Send pictures if you have them.