putty / caulk for a dinghy

[philb Junkie19]

I'm looking for advice on a putty or caulk as a filler. I have a very old home built 8ft plywood pram, new to me last summer. It spent the summer at the dinghy dock and stayed pretty tight but it has seen many better days and the grain on the bottom panels is opened up. After drying out in the fall I scraped the bottom down to the plywood leaving it a light red from what had soaked into the ply. In scraping, some kind of putty or caulk came away with the paint leaving indents where a zillion nails heads are slightly below the surface along the bottom / chine joint.  There was paint under the putty there as well. A lot also came out at the garboard joints.  I'm not looking to restore the pram,  just keep it serviceable a little longer.  I don't think I can get the chine joints clean enough for epoxy and fg tape to adhere without removing too much ply and I still would need something to fill the space at garboards.

I think I want something flexible to refill those spaces that would allow the wood to swell again.  With paint soaked into the old wood nothing is going to adhere well but the coarseness of the old fibers should give some mechanical grip as it appears to have with the old filler. From there it's let water, wood and swelling do what they have done so far.

[Mike]

System III makes a number of epoxy fillers designed for areas you describe.  Good customer support as well....see their website.

[philb Junkie19]

Mike,
Epoxy is awfully useful stuff. I have some West System on hand and two fillers. I'm thinking that something that stays flexible will allow the wood to expand as it has in the past, keeping the water out.
Phil

[philb Junkie19]

Mike,
You are right.  I was hasty.  Epoxy will be fine to fill those nail holes. I'll use the stuff and fairing compound I have on hand. For the open garboard seam I'll go with lifecaulk.
Phil

[brackish]

Mike,
You are right.  I was hasty.  Epoxy will be fine to fill those nail holes. I'll use the stuff and fairing compound I have on hand. For the open garboard seam I'll go with lifecaulk.
Phil

I was going to suggest Life Caulk, but a comment.  I built a sliding hatch cover using strips of teak tongue and groove joints so it could move with the temperature.  It initially leaked.  I then found out that if you are trying to make a weather tight seal with life caulk on wood you have to use their primer on the joint when I routed out the lifecaulk, primed the joint and filled the joints back up with life caulk, no more leaks.