Learn how to fix a broken boat

Many like me have a penchant for building water craft models. It is an enriching background, I feel it so. Building a boat model is a difficult task, so is repairing it. In order to avoid any unprecedented risk, people usually discard the boat in case it is broken instead of fixing it.

Fixing a boat is beneficial economically. You don’t have to invest the same capital once again or it also happens in many cases that people wait for accumulating the capital so that they buy another one. It doesn’t matter if you own a boat for livelihood or else for recreational purpose. However learning the basics of repairing a boat can help you in dire situation too!

Give below are some DIY boat repairing techniques:

•  Measure the damage area. Put tapes all around the damaged area. Try to cover a bigger circumference so that you don’t miss out the nearby cracks or crevices which are usually not visible to the naked eyes.

•  Repair the damaged area using duct tapes or resins. It depends on the built of the boat. While resin is used for fixing wooden boats, duct tapes work best for fibre glass boats.

• Fix it properly and let it dry for longer time, so that the adhesive material gets enough time to get merged within the cracks and crevices.

Other important considerations:

• Cover your eyes, hands and nose properly, before starting the work. The adhesive materials used for repairing contain high amount of toxic chemicals, which are potentially harmful for human beings.

•  Usually resins and hardeners are used for fixing the broken boats. Make sure you buy the exact amount or even a little more is fine. These materials do not retain their quality for a longer time, once unpacked. Hence estimate your requirement before the purchase. You can consult an expert in this regard. 

Want to build a boat? Here’s a list of books for you

If you have thought of showing your expertise in building a wooden boat, go through few of the books mentioned below. You can definitely find good expert suggestions, advices and guides from these books.

1.       How to build a wooden boat- David C McIntosh: This book details the building procedures of ballast, keel, ceilings, hatches, rudder and floor timbers.

2.      Fifty Wooden Boats: A Catalog of Building Plans by Wooden Boat Magazine- It has a series of publications. Written by eminent experts Cynthis Curtis, Mike O'Brien, and Paul Lazarus these books cover all the basic information pertaining to the making of a boat. The book contains relevant information with expressive visual formats for the ease of the readers. This magazine is also having another worthy publication in this regard entitled “Wooden Boat: An appreciation of the craft”.

3.      How to build wooden boats: With 16 small designs by Edwin Monk- Another great book with step by step instructions on making 16 different designs of wooden boats.

These are some of the worthy collections. You can find some more over internet also. If you are planning to buy a wooden boat or want to sell a used one, contact Wooden Boat USA. 

Exploring the Knowledge on Boat Models

Everyone likes adventures like boating, sailing and other water activities. But most of us know a very few on the models of boat. Let us know some more on them and try them out too next time:

·     Rafts: The most primitive boats that we came across in our books. These rafts are different as they are not propelled by any engine, fuel or motors. Nowadays river rafting has become a common adventurous sport.

·        Canoe: These are the direct descendant of the rafts. It can be said that canoes are the first boat models which started the notion of paddling. These are typically narrow, and are power-driven by human beings.

·       Sailing ship: It is a huge ship, much larger than the rafts and canoes. This is power-driven by the winds.

·     Kayak: This is mostly used for recreational use. Kayaks are small boats and are meant for fewer people. It is power-driven by the humans and has a cock pit and paddles.

·       Motorboats- It is a motor driven boat and the advanced version of the wooden boats. And is mostly preferred nowadays.

If you have a born desire for knowledge on boating contact Woodenboat USA, a division of OMH and is an expert in designing and building various models of wooden boats.