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The following pictures are pictures of a 16’ plywood skiff built in the late 60’s. I plan to use the skiff for crabbing fishing and leave it in the water May to October.

The weekend before my surgery I power washed the whole boat then put in the shop to dry. The only real bad area of rot found is on the port side bow next to the bow stem (you can see in the picture).

I’m looking for suggestions on how to repair/replace the rotted plywood, what are the best products for this task.

Karl

Having dug out tons of rot over the years, one of the best tools you can employ is your snozz (honker, muzzle, aroma catcher, your nose man). This finely tuned, duel opening, mostly non-speaking organ can hone in on the smallest pockets of rot. The scratch awl, screw driver and rubber mallet have there effectiveness, but your smelling thingie is quite accurate, once properly educated.

More often then not, a small amount of rot visible on the surface is hiding a much larger amount in unseen areas. Judging by your photos, the hood ends of the planking, fastener holes, chine log, rub rail and the rabbit on the stem and keel should be suspect and examined. Unfortunately this usually means some exploratory surgery. You have to remove the planking fasteners anyway, so you'll get a good look at the stem. A repair needs be made in the planking, so you'll get a look at the chine and portions of the bottom planking as well.

There will be a number of steps to complete this project, I would recommend you log on to the www.WestSystem.com site and look over their epoxy procedures for various repair types. They'll even mail you some free "how to" manuals on different subjects.

It's likely many of the fasteners will not come out easily. The easiest and most reliable way to remove these screws will be to drill the head and use a bolt extractor of proper size. This will get 99% of them without damaging the hole or surrounding wood. I've removed tens of thousands of fasteners this way and it's the only sure fire, get it done with minimal of cussing, method available.

After 40 years, the planking is probably in need of renewal. It's considered a "consumable" piece on the boat, intended to be replaced when shot. The same is true of the keel strip and similar arrangement on the stem (called a false keel and false stem, both typical of skiff construction) The planking gets brittle after many years of wet/dry cycling and eventually becomes so weakened, it spits out its fasteners, is easily broken and leaks like a spaghetti strainer. This is normal, for less then well cared for plywood planking, after 40 years.

In short, there isn't a "cure in a can" that will make an easy go of it. You could embalm it in goo and cloth and hope for the best, but she looks to be of traditional construction and this type of boat doesn't take well to hard plastic coatings. You could also pack the repair area with thickened epoxy and call it done, but your photos show a different story.

The port chine has separation (around midship), likely rotten fasteners and holes, the port rub, bottom of the false stem and bottom to topside planking at the bow also show separation, plus the obvious signs of broken down wood. When this happens and the fix isn't reasonably quickly performed, the pieces of the boat begin to move around underway, from the flexing of the hull under load. This works all the fasteners loose in their holes, then moisture gets in and rot makes a mess. She looks to have been built well, using good materials, so the decision is yours how to proceed; a quick fix with a bandaid on the symptom or a cure for what ails the boat. Of course, one costs a lot more in effort, materials and money, but after her long life she may deserve the same love that went into her construction, which is clearly visible and likely why she survived the decades.

Did I just pass you heading down Steamboat? Are you out and about?

You are just going to use it to run a trot line etc. right? I wouldn't spend the money or time on it that Paul suggest. If you like the design build one...

Throw some penetrating epoxy to it and some thickened epoxy where you need and it and put a coat of paint on it and go crabbing. It's a work boat.

If you are out and about, you should come by the house I am working on. It is right next door to the Brick House in Cedar Hurst, we are finishing up the demo.... it has been a beast. It was built like a brick shit house. 4"x4" DF studs with 1"x6" planking on each side of the wall.... interior walls too. hock:

It seems to me that I recall seeing a product years ago that you injected into the rot and it made it solid. It that the penetrating epoxy you are talking about Angie? It's been a long time ago.

Karl, you may want to try this link...

http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/product.html

I purchased some CPES and I think its what Angie may be thinkin' about.

Brian.

Industrial Formulators, makes a liquid epoxy, they call S-1 sealer. Keith and I used to to fix his keel. He had some water penetrating at the bow, it soaked in, and pretty much petrified the wood.


Greg

There are several different brands of penetrating epoxy, they all do the same thing. Pick one.... then heat up the wood to help pull it into the wood, once that is dry fillet it with some thickened epoxy, paint it and drop it in the water. It is not nearly as complicated as some would have you think.....

I’m only going to use this boat to run a Trot Line and water transportation (West River Taxi)


I think I'll just patch and paint enough to get one year of use out of it and build something better. (Like Angie suggested)

CPES sounds like the trick product to use.


Cheers
Karl