Winterizing with Wood Trim Help

Danny · Post by **Danny** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:16 am

Time to put my boat away for the Wisconsin winter. I know I need to loosen or remove the wood trim, but it's all new to me. Any help?

ezwater · Post by **ezwater** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:40 am

Hope you have a good driver drill. You don't need to back the screws way out, just back them so the heads are about level with the screw wells. Slip a knife under the gunwales and loosen them from the Royalex. You'll note that screws near the ends of the boat may have their heads inside the boat rather than outside. If you can't get the drill on those, it's back to the screwdriver.

When you tighten them in the spring, you might start at the center of the boat and alternate sides as you work toward the ends. Careful not to strip the screws. You can use a screwdriver rather than a drill if you're nervous.

kaz · Post by **kaz** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:33 am

If your boat is composite, don't bother with any of that loosening stuff, just oil the woodwork.
JKaz

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:37 pm

Are they stored outside? Also how cold does it get? Every boat I've had has had wood trim and we never do that screw losein stuff but then again Dec. Jan. and Feb. are our three busiest boatin months

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:31 pm

If I were you I would remove the gunwales completely for this first winter. Oil them well including down into the screw holes (use a pipe cleaner). Then next spring when you reassemble the boat you will get some idea of what you are up against.
I did this to our Dagger Legend when we first bought it many years ago. When I tried to reassemble it at about 40F I found that the inwales would not fit at all (too long; they wouldn't go down into the hull) and the screw holes near the stems were way off. I had to do a lot of sanding to get the inwales to fit and I redrilled the screw holes in the hull. Actually you end up with slots rather than holes and this will happen anyway if you use the boat at all in cold weather; the holes just get worked that way as the boat flexes. But the slots are actually rather long, especially at the very ends of the boat, in order for the holes to all line up. So far (many years now) the slots have not reduced the structural integrity to any degree.
With the hull waxed and the gunwales oiled, the boat will creak a little when worked hard. It sounds sorta like a wooden boat under sail.
The decks on the boat may need to be reconfigured to fit in the newly shaped inwales depending on the design.
Plastic is not an ideal material for hulls, especially in the north country. But with a little care they can last a long time. It might be a good idea to seek advise only from those living north of, let us say, 43 degrees?????
Good luck.

ezwater · Post by **ezwater** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:16 pm

But Kaz, who would be goofy enough to buy a composite boat?

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:09 pm

I'm a bit further south than 43 degrees, but do remember seeing this repair story...

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... flex+Epoxy

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:21 pm

from reading it refers to ABS contracting and (damp) wood expanding...

was wondering??? does the problem arise from wood expanding across grain, or in length?

ezwater · Post by **ezwater** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:21 pm

The problem arises because wood expands and contracts rather little along its length, while Royalex expands and contracts significantly in all directions. In a very cold winter, the Royalex contracts along the line of the gunwale, and the gunwale stays about the same length.

Vinyl gunwales, even with an aluminum insert, expand and contract similarly to Royalex, so cracking is less likely.

I suggest filling Royalex boats with "hot" compost over the winter months. Keep the compost off the gunwales. Stack more compost along the sides of the boat.