Everyday I Lean Something Old – Waxing A Leaking Boat
What do toilets and old boats have in common?
One of the most thrilling parts of owning the railway and trying to preserve its history is actually living that history. Discovering “new-to-me” ideas that are, in fact, old, tried-and-true practices. That’s what I’m really trying to preserve.
Where do you find wax that you can melt in a hurry at the hardware store?
Every day I learn something old. That’s become my mission. In a world obsessed with the next new thing, we often forget the wisdom of the past simple solutions that stood the test of time.
Back up on the rail
Finding leaky areas on the outer hull. Cleaning out old leak repairs
Putting in new cotten, this one 1 ft area took about 8 ft of cotton. My arms and neck this morning are a little tight.
Was this the leaky area? We found it by running water on the inside
Take Sweet Pea, for example. She’s had a persistent, maddening leak for years. I’ve tried everything to seal it from the outside. And sure, there’s probably some sneaky, invisible rot in there somewhere, but how do you find it? How do you fix it? Or at least stall it?
Wax? Or stay with me here, tallow. Yes, the same stuff that makes French fries irresistible.
Enter George Butler, my sherpa on this unexpected journey into the timeless. He casually mentioned waxing. I laughed. Then he kept talking.
George heating up the toilet wax in an old coffee can. Yes, there are a bunch of used coffee cans at the railway. Now I know why. Oh an Wayne Bomb.
So yes, we got the jokes out of the way. Now here’s the real story.
it’s melting
mmm, a nice cup of Toilet wax coffee.
Pouring it into a drilled hole close to the leak. The way this works, is the hot liquid wax flows into the lille nooks and crannys of the leak, and then as it gets less melted, fills those areas. Is this a perment fix? No, but you want to remove the keel? No. So this works, and I can see the centuries of repair ideas here work
Then with a plug and see if you fixed it. Its a trial and miss or find type deal.
Some of you may already know this technique, but I didn’t. And even Google didn’t help much. Maybe it has an official name? Either way, the process is so simple, so smart, it hardly needs much explaining.
Back in the water. Did it work? The leak is about 80% less. maybe 75% LESS. So yes. The Port side is dry along the keel. The starboard side? Well. Maybe some adult diapers will help. I think, there are several leaky areas that all need finding. And they are small, I am just a little obsessive about leaks.
Everything seems to leak. HA
George is da man!
Mission 75% accomplished with old school wisdom. Doesn’t everybody have a bunch of old coffee cans in their shop?
Nice old school fix. I have heard of using toilet bowl rings, but not in that method.
It is getting harder and harder to find metal coffee cans. Big or small save them all! (Oh, that reminds me.)
Boats leak…I got over it long ago and went boating…that is old school…leave it to George. Nit picking: is that a shaft zinc so close to the prop? Not starving the cutlass bearing I hope…can’t really tell in the photo. John in Va
I’d heard of using a wax toilet ring for emergency plugging of a leak & keep one in the toolbox on the Malibu (at 12′, the Aristocraft never ventures far from the dock). But this is the first I’d heard of this method.
Years ago I heard of a product called slick seam. I googled it and it is available under the name of Dave’s slick seam, $15,95 for a container full of the stuff. I have never used it nor do I recommend it. As I understand it, it is a wax compound that can be used underwater to seel a leak. Just FYI.
A music video from one of my favourite Australian bands…
“Six Months in a Leaky Boat”
Seems like a great solution. Toilet bowl wax rings are a little softer than candle was in order to allow it to conform to the variable surfaces being sealed. Candle wax would cool to a harder consistency if melted and poured. Its not going to displace water while the boat is floating so assume the boat has to be hauled before attempting “repair”.
candle wax not candle was.
yes, everyone used slick seam back in the day…still out there I think….it DOES WORK…sort of….John in VA
Surfboard wax will work in a pinch too. It saved me big time on the way back from Catalina once. We split a plank on my old Pacemaker right at the waterline. If it wasn’t for Mr Zoggs, we wouldn’t have made it.
Wow! The internet and our overlords hear everything! I was just talking about this earlier today on my latest boat.
Did you lean or learn? 😂