Anonymous wrote:

Jim wrote:This method (of) teak plank mimicking is no longer promoted, for obvious reasons.

Well, not quite so.

On the contrary, Annie dearest. I was referring to one particular method, not all.

I remember now the bronze staple option and not being able to locate them. The method I used I read about somewhere. I wish I could lay my hands on it.  It didn't make it up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I just found this video clip by accident, not sure if it has already been referred to on the forum, based on Teleport's North West Passage passage.

 Anyway, there's the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYdn5NeDvw

In 2006 I was interested enough in Marco Polo III to hire a local surveyor named Ian Tulloch to take pics of the boat. The outside hull looked nice enough but the delamination in the deck and state of the engine room suggested alot of work.

I'm pretty sure Chris Bray could have done his own survey via pics and weighed paying $20k aganist the fact that the boat was located in a very good spot to start his trek. Free would have been a more compelling price?

My recollection from the early versions of the Bray's website is that they did not buy the boat from Jim Creighton. It had already been sold once. 

The Brays did a number of interviews over time to various news outlets. Which is fine, but sometimes,  you find, for the sake of a good story, a mixture of truth, part-truth and untruth. Links to some of these are floating around the internet.

Robert Self is correct, I did not sell the boat to the Brays. I sold it to Don MacInryre an Australian adventurer who planned to use it in an upcoming single handed Transatlantic race. That was cancelled because of illness in the family. After that, he had his hands ful organizing a replication of Captain Bligh's voyage from the Bounty to Timor. As it happened, one of the crew signed up for that cruise was Chris Bray. Plans changed and Don sold his boat to Chris. I don't think Chris saw any surveys of Marco Polo, as I named her.

So we have a young and adventuresome couple purchasing a boat, sight unseen, unsurved, half way round the world, expecting a boat that is almost ready to go through the North West Passage. Not. When they took possession, the boat had been sitting under a shrink wrap for two years. No provision had been made to look after it. I was not volunteering since it was no longer my boat, you need to let go, and once you start doing that, "you own it". The bilge had a lot of water in it. I don't think it was rain water, because the only place I could see where water could get in, the mast/cover join, was tightly sealed. I think it was two years of condensation. For one thing, we have the most freeze/thaw cycles in North America. Summers are hot and humid during the day and cool at night. Well, sort of cool.

About the deck delamination. The deck was 3/8 ply over frames, covered by glued teak strips held down by staples. The method was promoted by Gougeon brothers. When the stpales were removed, epoxy was troweled over the deck to fill the holes. Then you sand it clean. But it's impossible to know if you have 100% filled holes. I realized it was starting to leak and covered the deck with dynel fabric and (Cold Cure) epoxy. Later, I discovered an area in one corner of the fore-deck where actual rot had taken place. It was that repair job that was photographed. (I looks pretty awful) There was a dish shaped gouge which I filled with multiple layers of fiberglass and epoxy. This method teak plank mimicking is no longer promoted, for obvious reasons.

The engine room was unpainted, dirty and rust shows here and there. But the engine was sound. Also, there was a lot of soot to be wiped out, caused when an exhaust elbow burst and dirtied the compartment. On the way to Greenland, the obsolescent Dynastrat packed it in. If I had it to do over, I would have installed  a modern starter motor.

About the price, I never did ask Chris what he paid for it. I sold it to Don for CAN$23,000 .

Around 1985, I asked the owner of Covey Island Boat Works what it would cost if they built it, cold molded wood epoxy. He said about C$300,000. Today, with inflation, that comes to around C$646,000. Sobering thought. If I had it to do over, i would have built a Badger.

Before I bought HOBBIT (ne Elsie N), I had the same Iain Tullouch do a survey. He found enough problems to convince me not to buy her. Then Annie came to visit and we went to see Elsie. It was an emotional experience for both of us. (It reminded her of her beloved Badger.) This time, I fell in love and the rest is history. Love is a loss leader that gets you into the grocery store.

Iain told that he has surveyed several boats that has significant problems, but the customer will still buy the boat because they just have to have it.

Anonymous wrote:

I just found this video clip by accident, not sure if it has already been referred to on the forum, based on Teleport's North West Passage passage.

 Anyway, there's the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYdn5NeDvw

In 2006 I was interested enough in Marco Polo III to hire a local surveyor named Ian Tulloch to take pics of the boat. The outside hull looked nice enough but the delamination in the deck and state of the engine room suggested alot of work.

I'm pretty sure Chris Bray could have done his own survey via pics and weighed paying $20k aganist the fact that the boat was located in a very good spot to start his trek. Free would have been a more compelling price?

My recollection from the early versions of the Bray's website is that they did not buy the boat from Jim Creighton. It had already been sold once. 

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I just remembered something interesting.  John Guzzwell built Trekka from edge-glued 5/8" western red cedar planking. It was unsheathed until he got to NZ where he put a couple of layers of GRP and cloth over the hull.  He admitted it wouldn't take much to knock a hole in the boat, but Trekka circumnavigated twice.  I suspect Teleport has a lot of redundant strength left in her structure.  The problem areas are only where there is a reverse curve in the sections.  Put her in a shed, drill some holes, use fan heaters to speed up the drying process, pump in some resin, heavily sheath her below the waterline, reseal the bilges and work hard to keep them dry, and you'll get another 20 years out of her.  Wonderful stuff, epoxy!

First, thanks for sharing this information, your ideas plus your words of support. I appreciate it.

I agree with most of the above but I would add a vacuum bag setup to the outside, to accelerate the drying. vacuum bagging is so common now there must be kits for sale. Or, you can buy individual components. I would heat the the hull as well from the inside or insulate it at least.

I wonder if it might not be a good idea to flush the salt water with fresh water as salt deposits attract water. Then again, if drying were immediately followed by epoxy injection, it might not matter. It might even serve to pickle the hull!

Jim, I think flushing with fresh water is an excellent idea.  It will speed up the drying process in the end and improve epoxy bonding. Interesting idea to use vacuum bagging to assist with evacuating the water.  It is very simple to make up an effective vacuum bag system. Just use sheets of plastic sealed at the edges with plasticine (soft, stick putty) or something, and held in place with gaffer tape.  The plasticine provides an air seal and the tape stops the plastic falling off until the vacuum takes effect, after which the plastic clings tightly.  Inspection will soon show if there are any little leaks needing more plasticine.  Bodgy up a nozzle to the plastic and attach an ordinary industrial vacuum cleaner to it, which will suck out the air.  Provided there are no air leaks, this will create powerful vacuum pressure. You don't need to cover the whole boat if doing this sort of repair, just the affected area.  Jim Brown and Chris White wrote up this primitive system and I have seen it effectively used in a backyard operation to laminate up beams and curved panels.

I just remembered something interesting.  John Guzzwell built Trekka from edge-glued 5/8" western red cedar planking. It was unsheathed until he got to NZ where he put a couple of layers of GRP and cloth over the hull.  He admitted it wouldn't take much to knock a hole in the boat, but Trekka circumnavigated twice.  I suspect Teleport has a lot of redundant strength left in her structure.  The problem areas are only where there is a reverse curve in the sections.  Put her in a shed, drill some holes, use fan heaters to speed up the drying process, pump in some resin, heavily sheath her below the waterline, reseal the bilges and work hard to keep them dry, and you'll get another 20 years out of her.  Wonderful stuff, epoxy!