Wobbygong

by Peter
(South Grafton, Australia)

Wobbygong is a 28' long 8' beam displacement hull.

She is made from 1" Oregan planks in 1948.

We bought her 18 months ago.

She sank 6 months ago when caulking fell out from between the timbers at the chine ( in the bow).

When we bought her we were told that all the planks with worm in them had been replaced..... a slight untruth!

We have removed her cabin tops which were poorly made and had some rot.

The 48hp Perkins is about to come out and will be rebuilt and replaced with an outboard to create more cabin space and noise.

My plan is to replace the side decks and gunnels with laminted 1 1/2" wide laminated timbers (glued and screwed, replace all the knees, and then turn her over to repair the worm eaten planks and recaulk her.

I need to explore how to do some of this. eg do I glue in new short pieces of worm eaten timber or do I replace the full length even though there's only an inch or so of damage?

How does gluing in a piece of timber affect the natural expanding of the timbers when she takes up water?

There's a lot more questions and I hope there is someone out there willing to advise me.

Regards...Peter and Annie

Wobbygong

by Peter
(South Grafton, NSW, Australia)

Well, we've remove the cabin tops and decking. As you can see, she need a bit of work.

I will replace the chine knees first then the side decks.

Everything above the gunnel will be fibreglassed timber.

I'll do this first to retain strength. I will search out any rotten timbers (such as ribs, stringers, etc and remove/replace.

Then I intend to either lift her up or roll her over to repair the worm in her hull.

I've already cut a little bit out and the timber is so hard I was amazed.

I'll take Mike's advice and cut the planks out, scarf new short lengths in.

Not sure if backing blocks on the joins are enough or whether I should cut on a rib and/or put in sister rib to support the plank at the join.

Any comments?

Wobbygong

by Peter
(South Grafton, NSW, Australia)

The Chine was bodged by the previous owner and fell out 12 months after we bought her.

This is where the problem is.