There's a hole in my Guillemot, Dear Liza, Dear Liza

This year, while we were at the Poulsbo Rendevous, we got a chance to see the bow of our boat - we don't normally see the starboard side when she is docked at the marina. Anyway, we were standing around sharing boat talk with our fellow wooden-boat-nuts, when Nan said, (and I quote), "There's a hole in our boat!" And sure enough there was - actually 2 of them, one on either side of the bow, both just above the waterline - just behind the stem. For the last several weeks, I had noticed there was more water than usual in the bilge after a trip. I'd get it all out and no more would accumulate while she was at dock. Suddenly, it all made sense - the holes were small and above the waterline, so we would only take on water when we were moving through the waves.

When we left for India several weeks ago, I took the boat over the Jensen Motorboats - our boat's favorite day camp! They got her pulled today, and cut back the rotten planks. Here is the view of the starboard side (the worse side):



Starboard Side View



As you can see, they have cut away 2 planks. There is also some water damage to the stem (brown vertical portion on the left), so they will have to put in what used to be called a Dutchman, but in today's PC world was referred to as a Dutch Person. The planks will be cut back around 6 feet or so and replaced with yellow cedar (which is the wood used in the orignal planks). Here is a view of the port side:

Port Side View

So far, they have only pulled one plank on the port side, but there is a soft spot on the top of the plank below the hole, so they may have to pull another.

Peter Proctor, my guru at Jensen's, says that the planks were bad before we bought the boat, that either the surveyor didn't catch them, or they might have been in the middle of the board. He also said that planks can last up to 60 years, so they will not need to be replaced again while we own the boat. He also suggested we spend as much time in salt water as possible, since the salt water cures the wood, but is hard on the fasteners, while the fresh water is good for the fasteners, but not for the wood.

The plan now is to let the boat dry out over the weekend, and then decide how much additional rot there is.