cladding cabin exterior on 70s cruiser

[Paul Bomber Swindell]

Hi, I am renovating a 70s burland cabin cruiser that I rescued from certain death, it took some time to get the plywood cabin watertight but this has now been achieved with a lot of filling and painting and a miracle sealant, I am contemplating cladding the outside of the cabin in oak matchboarding and wondered if anyone can see any reasons why this shouldn't be done, I am certain with the right treatment and sealants that I could make this watertight too and would probably fit a breathable waterproof membrane on the plywood first.

I would welcome any comments or observations.

Thanks

[Bee]

Not sure if it would work, think the wood may soak up water from the end grain and make the varnish lift and the wood go black despite sealants, if you fitted it horizontally it may be better and I don`t think you would need a membrane but you would saddle yourself with a load of work varnishing etc. unless you paint it in which case why bother at all, you could also use some decent looking exterior ply and with a bit of stain and varnish make it look good but you might be making a lot of work that soon becomes even more work.

[RLWP]

How much weight do you think this will add to the top of the boat? I'm thinking of how this may effect the stability of a cabin cruiser

 

Richard

[Paul Bomber Swindell]

Thanks for your replies, it wouldn't add too much weight as the cabin is mostly windows but I will definitely take this into consideration, I would fit the boards horizontally and would treat them all around before fitting, I have carried out a lot of external work with oak in a domestic setting and had some success with sikkens cetol treatments as regards colour fastness and waterproofing but not used on boat apart from new oak cockpit screen which seems fine up to now, I may not even go down this route but just thinking of options at mo so will take your comments on board (pardon the pun)

Thanks again

[smileypete]

Could be worth a go, maybe space the cladding away from the ply using thin battens. Could then reverse fix cladding to battens and then battens to ply, and cover screw holes with some trim. Or just skin over with some decent marine/WBP ply that could be stained or varnished quite nicely.

 

Would have thought tricky bit is round the windows, also the risk is water or damp getting behind and rotting the existing cabin unnoticed, though a breather membrane might help there.

 

Long time ago I used to have a plywood cabined riverboat so spent some time thinking about stuff like this.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[Paul Bomber Swindell]

Thanks Pete, it was the ply rotting unnoticed that I was worried about, if money was no object I would love to strip the whole cabin off and rebuild but trying to do this where she is moored would be hard work, I would love to get her out of the water and undercover but being a self employed joiner in these times of recession means the funds are not there, so I am trying to make the best of what I have, I recently made some oak farmhouse type doors with the oak boarding I mentioned and when I had them sideways on the bench I thought mmmm that would make really nice cabin sides! As regards the windows I would take them out before I clad and then cut new holes out, I will give it some more serious thought before I make my decision

Regards

[smileypete]

Oak might need some careful design ensure it doesn't split due to seasonal changes. I'd also look at using Cedar as it looks nice has very good weather resistance and will withstand a bit of neglect. As cladding it's not too pricy and comes decent lengths and can be ripped down, sanded and have a moulding put on it.

 

Could be used to 'frame' some decent well treated and stained WBP, where it'd give some extra width for proper expansion joints between cabin/deck etc, or wear edges, or drip edges over windows. Sikaflex and Marineflex are decent sealants, Sikaflex 221 is 'stretchiest' and sometimes comes up at good prices on Ebay.

 

For the existing ply which has had rot cut out, Boron paste or rods might be good as 'belt and braces' to help ensure it doesn't restart, varies widely in price though. I used to try and avoid large amounts of filler, just chisel a neat hole, belt sand a fillet of wood to shape, slather wood preserver all over, wait till dry then bed into Marineflex maybe with a couple of brass screws for good measure, bit more sanding and jobs a good 'un. Happy days

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~