stupid question, but what is dry rot?

[cooky]

Just wondering what dry rot is? THought I'd be clever on the weekend and had the drill in my hand (dangerous) - so added some extra drain holes in my shelves (glass) in boat - front of boat floor decided I'd give it a go too - drain hole at rear of cuddy cabin section (water often sits at front) - got about 7 cm deep and still not through into drain space so gave up - also noticed wood shavings in all drill holes.

Anyway water (accidentially) filled up hole left in cuddy cabin bit - I haven't sealed as yet.

Will a small quantity of water matter? Should I just fill up with glass again or put some treatment on first.

I know they told me they use some fancy timber (laminated or something) so rot shouldn't be a problem.

Why was I drilling holes? My boat is stored on my driveway - meaning it slants bow toward road (head down) - all drain holes are designed to drain towards stern (shelves, kill box, etc) - the problem is it rains occassionally and water sits in these areas collecting slime and mosquitos.

Until I get a hydralic jack or something to lift the trailer up and the front I thought a few extra holes would do the trick.

[NQCairns]

For a good read on things boating and wood try here cooky : http://www.rotdoctor.com/
Dry rot is not actually dry when it is rotting, bloody funguses.

Cooky unless the wood is treated it will rot the only sure way to stop rot is to not allow fresh water to touch wood, if you got wood shavings thats bad, you have just al.lowed another entrypoint! Untill you get it sorted throw a heap of salt onto and into any moisture, rot cannot exist then. Bloke get that bow up! and plug dem holes with epoxy;D.nq

[blaze]

your the man nq
cost of jack $35
cost of boat?
cheers
blaze
Ps after though
dry and mop up water and if its not near fuel, put a fan heater in there for a day, I know you guys up that way dont use heaters

[cooky]

Cooky unless the wood is treated it will rot

Yeh I know I wasn't thinking straight (have cold) - had the drill - you know how it happens (heh I could just - oh sh*t, maybe I shouldn't have).

How do I know if the wood is treated? Or do you mean I have to treat it now?

I will let it dry out in the sun - salt good idea. The other holes I will treat with glass - as the water just runs through (doesn't sit). Will get epoxy into ASAP.

[Dignity]

Cooky, I believe that in the elctrical industry Boron rods are used to stop wooden poles from getting dry rot. Have a mate who has bored into his transom and inserted these. Where you get the rods from I don't know and I'm not even sure that it is necessarily the best solution. Thought though that if you have holes already bored this might offer some future protection. Any one else aware of this possibility?

If the holes you have bored are wet I would get a hair dryer into them to ensure they are totally dry before putting any epopxy (or boron rods) into them.

Sam

[cooky]

NQ - can you get The Rot Drs product in OZ? interesting stuff and am now thinking about inspecting any holes, screws, etc in the boat. Don't think there are any apart from my one indiscretion - only a small hole - lucky I didn't use the large hole drill - probably only let 20ml of water in.

[NQCairns]

Cooky that stuff looks good doesn't it! It was not get-able here when I wanted it 1 year ago, there are easy alternatives.

You can use epoxy and acetone as the thinner (look Mrs Marsh it does get in!) do a test first. I suspect you may have drilled a stringer or crossmember/bulkhead (worst place to let water enter in a boat). Why did you stop drilling-How long was your drill bit? ;D ;D
I too have done the same type of thing in many differing applications, its almost absent minded but the fixup cannot be.
Up here all year is rot heaven, any time air touches wood it allows floating spores to settle, if you get it dry over the next week and get some thinned epoxy down there (nneds to get to the bottom and soak in as well), the boat will never know it happened. cheers nq

PS to stop Mozzies and slime a bit of soap, detergent or salt will work in any standing body of water.

[cooky]

drilled down maybe 7-8cm. I stopped because i wasn't game to go any further - I can post a pic - i'll go outside and take one in a sec.

I'm talking ONE hole - the others are just through shelves(drain holes) in the side - they're fine.

It looks like (with a torch) to be about 1.5cm of glass and wood and then looks to be high density foam or similar (it seems white. I'll have to ring factory and see if they put foam in bow for sound deadening or something. The guy I bought it off did mention chambers (floatation) - said it wouldn't sink (has 4 drain holes at stern - 3 normal and one large (bit different)

[cooky]

i'll try and get a photo tonight - after I wrote that my baby daughter woke up and couldn't get her back to sleep until almost 1am. ARGGGHHHH!!!

Shaking them till they go limp - that's okay isn't it? ;)

[billfisher]

Someone distributes the Rot Doctor products in Sydney. They are very exspensive though. International Paints sell similary products for about half the price (made by Akzo Nobel). Theyhave a penetrating wood preserving epoxy called Evadure and an Epoxy resin for gluing and laminting.

The Rot Doctor site is very informative. They have a method of restoring a rotten transom without ripping out all the fiberglass and spending thousands of dollars.

[cooky]

response from DR ROT. re Aust contacts.

John Warszawski: Director
Susan Glass: Marketing Manager
Life Style Constructions Pty Ltd
PO Box 1024
Elsternwick, Victoria Australia 3185
Mobile: 0419 399 739
Fax: 61 3 9500 8086

[NQCairns]

Cooky, must have been something in the air last night, my girl woke up 3 times - in the end it helps make our bond toward them stronger I am sure. My baby daughter loves a vibrate (notice the slant away from your word! ;D) gets a giggle every time.
You boat has a reputation for being well built I understand - shame it makes stuff like this harder to get back to square.
If that is a sealed compartment injected with 2 part closed cell foam it will be hard to get the water out, You may just have to pour some salt down there and plug it up, hope you get some better advice.

Thanks for the evadure tip Billfisher.
nq