help

lhowell001 · Post by **lhowell001** » Mon May 10, 2010 10:01 am

how do u fix a hole in the bottom of my boat(wood)

campjer · Post by **campjer** » Mon May 10, 2010 10:20 am

Hi and welcome to Boat Buzz! This forum is more for technical support with the site, etc. Can you repost this over in 'Hull Construction' or 'On the Hard' ?

Also - if you have any pics, description of the hole (size, etc.) - both myself and a slew of others can more than help.

Bill Basler · Post by **Bill Basler** » Mon May 10, 2010 11:18 am

lhowell, and Jeremy, I have moved the post. Thanks.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Mon May 10, 2010 11:56 am

Don,

The bottom on your boat is double planked. It has marine plywood inner and solid mahogany outer planks. Depending on the location and extent of the hole, there are ways to deal with it. Even the chines can be replaced on these cruisers. I went through that last year, with new adjacent side and bottom planks to boot.

Let us know what you have and we may be able to help you through it with suggestions and some words of encouragement.

Al

lhowell001 · Post by **lhowell001** » Mon May 10, 2010 3:53 pm

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Mon May 10, 2010 5:29 pm

Don, that qualifies as a "gusher". It appears that it may be right at a frame. In order to help we will need to know a few things first, so please don't be offended by a lot of questions.

Is it under the cabin floor or in the engine compartment? Can you see it from inside? Is the wood soft and punky around the hole? How about the frame wood? ...and the plywood inner planking? Do you know what caused the hole? What shape is the rest of the bottom in?

Let's start with those and go from there, if you will. If the problem is isolated to this area, it can be dealt with, not easily if you've never done it before but it's doable.

Let us know.

Al

lhowell001 · Post by **lhowell001** » Mon May 10, 2010 7:32 pm

its was caused by a jack. i cant see it from inside
thanks
LON

evansjw44 · Post by **evansjw44** » Tue May 11, 2010 6:27 am

From the picture it looks like the bottom is covered with fiberglass. If so there's a strong possibility the botton has a bad case of rot. Water gets trapped in the wood by the glass and just festers.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:14 am

Jim, it must be my glasses, I don't see any fiberglass.

Assuming it's not fiberglass and the bottom is solid, except for the puncture wound, is there a way to do a small repair like this one without being too obtrusive with a large area of planks? I'm guessing this is under the dinette floor. Mine has original mahogany Nautolex floor covering on this floor and doesn't appear to be easily accessed without tearing up the Nautolex. But where there's a will, there's a way (I believe this is a 27' CC Connie like mine).

Any recommendations from the experts at this???

Al

farupp · Post by **farupp** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:33 am

LON: that's a lot of water and the boat is on the trailer. What were you doing when the jack punched the hole through the bottom and what kind of jack was it? There must have been lots of water in the bilge. For how long did the water come out like this before and after you took the picture?

evansjw44 · Post by **evansjw44** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:38 am

When I look at the bottom, just in front of the water column I see a tear that looks like a covering. Also, I don't see any plank seams. The tear seems to have a seam as well. Just a guess.

JohnKadimik · Post by **JohnKadimik** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:47 am

I agree with Jim, looks like glass. What is growing on the trailer bunks ?

Ken Miller · Post by **Ken Miller** » Tue May 11, 2010 11:49 am

I agree with Jim, too:

Bill Basler · Post by **Bill Basler** » Tue May 11, 2010 1:52 pm

Guys, sorry for getting in the way, but I am having a hard time following here. This original post by "lhowell001" indicates that this is member Lon Howell from Sanford, FL.

In searching Boat Buzz for username "lhowell001" I see only two posts, the other signed by Don Mann. We don't have a member, Don Mann, so I am assuming this is Lon Howell here, correct? Perhaps Mr. Mann is just an online/project helper?

I only bring this up because I assume this is where Al got the 1960 27' Constellation info. Is that right Al? It has to be, as I do not see any boats in the hull registry yet for Lon.

So...I just want to make sure we're helping out on a Chris-Craft here. It does appear to be, and I can't say Al is too far off with the 27 Connie. Whatever this is has an external keel/skeg so this boat is likely a cruiser.

At any rate, a hole is a hole, but our guidance will be better if we know what this boat is. Before we start chasing down plywood, or double planks, it would be good to know what year make model this boat is.

I have zoomed in on the photo, and while I cannot say I see any covering like fiberglass, I agree with Ken that there is a crack in between planks adjacent to the hole, then farther to the foreground there is not. It does kind of look like a covering of some sort...or perhaps a bunch of coats of bottom paint that did not crack.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Tue May 11, 2010 2:14 pm

The owner is fairly sure the bottom is not fiberglassed. He is having the boat lifted from the trailer and blocked up so they can see what they are dealing with and do the work. He's a newbie to wood boats.

When it was launched he had no idea there was a hole in her bottom, so it was a complete surprise when she almost sank. As Lon said, the hole was caused by a jack that was used to set it on the trailer to take it to his marina for launching.

Lon will let us know what they find once she's on the hard.

Lon, if you're following this, the screws used on these were not phillips head, they are Reed & Prince head. A phillips screwdriver won't seat into the head as well as the R&P will and may strip the heads. I failed to mention this when we talked.

Al

P.S. Bill, I called Lon. This is Lon Howell in Florida. He has a 1960, 27' Connie just like mine. He's having a hard time communication here on Boat Buzz so I might be his spokesperson.

evansjw44 · Post by **evansjw44** » Tue May 11, 2010 4:26 pm

Well I didn't mean to be in some way judgemental. I didn't know what size this boat was or anything about its history. I was just pointing to the possibility that when we buy an old CC some think that getting a glass bottom makes it a better boat and mostly that is not true.

My wife wants me to downsize and a lot of the boats I would consider have bottoms or topsizes that have been glassed over and I wouldn't even think about buying one unless I know about what has been done, by who and how. But I definately would not even look at a wood boat that has had the bottom glassed over without the bottom being completely encapsulated, and maybe not even then. But I'm and old crudgemudgen(SP -I can't even spell it).

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Tue May 11, 2010 5:09 pm

Jim,

No one was offended by your reply or any of the other ones. You had reasonable cause to suspect fiberglass. Lon does well one-on-one on the phone but, like many of us, has trouble with a keyboard. It takes me forever to type a short note and stay on subject.

I felt this was possibly the case so I called Lon and had a good talk with him. I'm still not sure how the jack got stuck in the bottom but he wasn't aware of it until his boat almost sank. He asked the right questions and is now fairly familiar with the way our boats were built. He has a good handle on what to look for once she's up on blocks and jacks.

Stay tuned, I'll let you know how it goes from here.

Al

farupp · Post by **farupp** » Tue May 11, 2010 6:16 pm

Al, thank for taking the lead and getting this clarified for all of us. I hope the hull of Lon's boat is sound and can be repaired and that we can help him more in the future.

Jim, how about "curmudgeon?" I couldn't have guessed it on first try either. Good thing for "spell check."

evansjw44 · Post by **evansjw44** » Tue May 11, 2010 6:26 pm

Spe;\ll check turns words I thought I knew what they were into words that weren't close to what I meant.==Technology???

57 chris · Post by **57 chris** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:31 pm

Curmudgeon???
Is that something like a muffler bearing?

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Tue May 11, 2010 9:10 pm

No, it's a reptile that lives only in bilge swill.

Al

lhowell001 · Post by **lhowell001** » Wed May 12, 2010 12:42 pm

thanks for the phone call. i'll take some more pictures when i get in try dock.
thanks again
lon

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Wed May 12, 2010 9:42 pm

Folks, here's some photos of Lon's boat showing the hole in the bottom now that she's had a chance to dry out. All that water may have given the appearance of fiberglass. As you see, it's just paint.

Looks like 3 outer planks are broken and there's a hole in the plywood inner planking. This is behind the engine, under an exhaust pipe and a an aux. frame member.

Al

JohnKadimik · Post by **JohnKadimik** » Thu May 13, 2010 6:23 am

That's paint.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Thu May 13, 2010 2:35 pm

The wide board seen in the bilge photo almost appeared to be a sister keel but after visiting my cruiser (identical to Lon's) I believe it's a wide batten for a seam in the plywood inner planking. Does that sound right?

Lon, are you planning to do the repairs or will you need to get a pro? Being familiar with woodworking helps but wood boats are a bit different. The planks are Philippine Mahogany and the inner plywood is marine grade (probably 1/4"). When the outer planks come off you'll see remnants of the original canvas that was soaked with bedding compound that's probably been long gone (your boat is 50 years old).

So, back to the original question: How do u fix this hole? Any suggestions?

Al

campjer · Post by **campjer** » Mon May 17, 2010 9:23 am

Well there's definitely the "right" way and the "wrong" way to fix a hole... though both can equally fix the hole and allow for a quick drop in the water to enjoy the season.

Honestly the "right" way would be to remove the boards and replace with new...but I know this isn't always the easy option.

Here's a post from a couple years ago that speaks to my experience in patching a hole, while my Connie was in the water. Long story short, I basically made a sandwich of wood with a threaded bolt going up the centre. It was placed from the bottom up - and threaded tight on the inside. The faces of the wood patches against the hull had a generous coating of marine wax to create a seal. Again - the 'wrong' way to do it - but it allowed me to enjoy the rest of the season worry free.

http://www.chris-craft.org/discussion/v ... highlight=

evansjw44 · Post by **evansjw44** » Mon May 17, 2010 2:02 pm

OK I don;t see glass either on the better pictures. I'd replace the three planks and put a big butt block over the punctured plywood. The frame will certainlyt get in the way and will probably have to be modified to allow a butt block to slide under it.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Tue May 18, 2010 3:18 pm

I don't think a temporary patch would be a good idea in this case. I recommended that he remove the broken planks, fix the hole in the inner plywood and install new outer planks. She'll be like new (almost).

I hadn't thought of that frame, it's right in the way and must be dealt with.

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