below water seams on wooden boat

I have a 1964 Century Resorter. I am currently restoring it and have run into a problem. The caulk on the bottom below the water line is falling out and I am not sure what to replace it with. The boat spends most of its time on the trailer. It is rarely in the water. Is there a product that you recommend to fill the seams? The gaps are 1/16th to 3/16th of an inch. I am afraid that swelling will not solve my problem.

Thank you,

 

You can do a member search and look up PAR. He restores boats and has a lot of info and would more than likely answer your questions.
What am I talking he about he will hunt this thread down.

 

Hey, there is an old way of doing it... you use cotton rope, that have been twist braided, sbout 3/16" diameter then you peel the braiding apart..
then you tap it in your seams with an iron.. then coat it very heavy with thinned down tar... let it set for awhile then paint over it

 

it is very good method, I wish to show you how it done.. because it my experience

 

just killin time until one of the pros chimes in,

but did the actual cotton caulking come out, or was it a layer of sealant covering the caulk?

 

I dont know your type of boat but from the seam width I would recommend caulking cotton and red lead putty. As I boyle says it is bought in balls of stranded rope that you can pull apart to suit the thickness of the seams and then you twist it back into a rope and hammer it in with a hollow ground caulking iron. It can then be filled over with a mix of red lead powder and ordinary linseed oil putty. My boat has seams of about 3/8 and I use oakum to caulk because it hardens up better in thicker ropes. And I use a product called black pudding to fill it with. It is basically coal tar that you mix with cement. But for finer seams putty is better and much easier to work with.

 

Actually the cotton caulking stay in, as it will swell and seal the leaks when it get wet..