Ed's Blog
Covering an Old Wooden Boat for Winter
This past Saturday, I helped my father cover his latest toy, a 25' 1968 Lyman Hardtop. I've helped my father cover his boats in the past but, being an all wooden boat, I learned a few things that I hadn't thought about before. Here's what I learned:
1. The bilge needs to be as close to completely dry as you can get it. You don't want water freezing and thawing in the very bottom of the hull of the boat.
2. You need to have good airflow. A wooden boat needs to be able to fully dry out to prevent rot. Pull the deck plates that run over the bilge, leave the cabin hatch up a bit and leave the cabin doors open. This way, if moisture does form on the inside of the boat, air can get in and help evaporate it. Allowing airflow will also prevent mold and mildew from forming.
To accommodate the two points above, we first used a wet/dry vacuum and a roll of paper towels to get as much standing water out of the bilge as we could. Then we built a wooden frame which consists of a few 2x4s lashed together, with some 1x2s used to hold up the tarp and prevent it from sagging under the weight of snow. Next we covered the boat with a tarp letting it hang over the bow and stern, but not completely shutting it as to provide airflow to the boat underneath from the stern or bow.
After that, it was wings and beer on my Dad. Thanks Dad :)
Fall
Fall is here and I thought that it was necessary to make a change so I'm changing our website from it's old format to this. Also, I just got some new web development software that I'm trying out and figuring out if I like. If this works out, I'll probably use Posterous even less but we'll see… There are many features of Posterous that I like such as being able to create a post and have it sent out automagically at a later time. I also like the autopost feature which will post my rants and raves as soon as I make them public on Postereous.
Anyway, we surpassed the previous record for precipitation in North East Ohio this year and the rain continues to fall making this a very wet, dreary, Autumn so far. Riding season will be over soon and it is already getting colder every day. I always feel rushed when fall arrives trying to get the house ready for winter etc… But, I do look forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas along with all the good food, friends and drink that goes along with the end of year holidays. For those of you that enjoyed our clam bake last year, we weren't able to hold a clam bake this year, but will definitely have one next year.