John West Wrote:
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> I have had some dry rot problems around my house,
> and some net surfing a few years ago led me to
> this site:
>
> [
www.rotdoctor.com]
>
> The Rot Doctor works mostly on old boats around
> Puget Sound, and uses epoxy based products. A lot
> of my rotted wood had previously been soaked in
> pentachlrophenol, so that clearly was not a long
> term fix.
>
> Given John's and Hal's comments about oak, the
> Friends might want to look into some of Dr. Rot's
> products (which are actually made in Richmond, CA
> and available from the supplier there). I
> currently use Clear Penetrating Epoxy Resin to
> protect wood, and while I have not been using it
> long enough to comment on its "archival"
> effectiveness, so far so good.
>
> One advantage of the epoxy fillers (used for
> filling holes and voids, etc.) is once the epoxy
> has penetrated into good wood and cured, the
> result is actually stronger than the original (or
> so I'm told, and the results seem to confirm
> that).
>
> JBWX
_____________________________________________________
John:
Dad and I both used products similar to the Rot Doctor's stuff. I had forgotten the name of the epoxy we used so I didn't mention it. It may have been called "Git Rot". When mixed, it was thin, so it would penetrate the rotten wood but holes had to be drilled down from the top of the rotten wood to make sure the stuff reached all the rot. To keep it from running through the rotten wood and out again, I had to completely cover the sides and bottom of the rotten portion of the wood with duct tape and leave it until the epoxy set up, which was slowly.
However, once it was set up and the duct tape removed (and the visible rough surfaces of, and drilled holes in, the "fixed" rotten wood filled & painted as needed) that stuff was tough. Some of the rub rails, supporting rails at the upper parts of the ribs, and such would flex when the boat rubbed against a dock or whatever. Sometimes, much of these parts would be epoxy and not wood any more. The epoxy did not protect wood that was not yet rotted but still was located between sections of the same part that were. (that's what the pentachlrophenol was for). Sooner or later, the formerly OK wood would rot and we'd go through it all again.
Best regards, Hart Corbett
