: Has anyone experienced the following problem, Thoughts on a remedy
: sought.
: I am building a Guillemot and have almost finished the woodwork.
: I stopped building in November when the temperature dropped and
: since then I have moved house
: with all that that entails. Ask Bill!!

: I have just got back to building only to find that the sheer seam,
: which was hot glued together, has
: opened up along both sides if the boat. It is a staple-less build
: but as far as I can tell, both deck and
: hull are still tight to the forms all round. The gap is biggest in
: the middle of the boat, about 1/4" each side,
: reducing steadily to nothing at stem and stern.

: The only cause for this as far as I can see is wood shrinkage. We
: have had an exceptionaly dry start to the year,
: with no measurable rain for the past two months, so the atmosphere
: has been quite dry as well.
: All of the wood was dry when I was building but I recognise that
: there is always some moisture present.

: Since the shape of both deck and hull seems fair, I am tempted to
: carry on and glass them both and see how
: they fit after that. I could always make a thin fillet insert if
: the halves don't pull completely together.

: I'm fairly relaxed about the problem but other thoughts would be
: appreciated if only to give it an airing.

: Les C

A bucket of water and a soaking wet sponge will restore moisture to the wood and expand it back to it's original dimensions.

It would be good if you can get water on the inside surfaces also, to equalize the water application.

Apply water, let it dry, apply water, let it dry, until the wood returns to it's previous shape.

I glass the hull before stripping the deck to freeze it in shape. I use an external strongback so it's gone before I work on the deck.

Any time you have shrinkage of wood you can restore it to shape this way.

You'll be surprised at how much you have to wet it down before it will go back to the way it was when you started.

This is also the remedy for a hull/deck that has been glassed on one side and has dried from the bare wood surface.

Rob