Sprucing up the Spruce-My boom project

[HudsonM]

Brought the boom off my ?65 Pearson Vanguard home for the winter for refinishing. It's the original sitka spruce boom that a previous owner had painted white. It has some moisture in it, so I decided to strip it completely, dry it out, repair any problem areas and refinish it with Waterlox, varnish, or some other finish that will show off the wood.

A heat gun made pretty quick work of stripping the paint. Now that it?s down to bare wood, I?ve found two issues I could use some advice on.

1) There?s an area of delamination across the top at the forward end where it fits into the gooseneck. The delam extends aft about 50?. A previous owner repaired the delam some time ago with a grayish adhesive (looks like Bondo), but it?s no longer holding the wood together.

To repair this, I though about spreading the opening as much as possible with a wedge, digging out as much of the old adhesive as possible, slathering Gorilla glue or epoxy thickened with 403 (microfibers adhesive filler) in the gap, then driving several stainless screws in from the top, countersinking them so they?d be hidden under the track for the foot of the sail. Any better ideas for a fix here?

2) I?ve found some rot on the side of the boom about midway down. The rot was at an end joint where the two boards making up the center laminate meet. I?ve removed all the rot, and it?s left a hole about ?? wide x 1 ?? high and about 2? deep (about halfway through the boom). This one has me worried. I?m not sure how to fix this in such a way that will restore the structural integrity of the boom. I?m pretty sure pouring epoxy in the hole isn?t the answer. Some advice here will be greatly appreciated!! (That is, unless the advice is to use the boom as a Yule log next Christmas. Then it won?t be appreciated so much.)

Here are a few pics:

Before:



Forward end and delamination:







The hole:




Thanks all.

[The Good Goose]

Your repair for the delamination sounds good I would use epoxy it is much more water proof then gorilla glue. I might try to use the heat gun and see if you could get the glue to release from the rest of the joint. You would get a lot better joint if you could get it apart and really clean it out well. I also think that with epoxy if you just clamped it the long screws would be unnecessary.

The rotten spot does not look structural to me. I would clean it out and put in a dutchman of similar wood. Maybe in the shape of a sea turtle;-).

Brock

[Tim]

I know some people swear by that Gorilla Glue, but I am not a big fan. I would unhesitatingly use epoxy, thickened somewhat with the appropriate adhesive filler (cabosil), to reglue the joint at the forward end of your boom. Unless you need the screws for their clamping force, I don't see why you need them either. The epoxy alone will be very strong, as long as you can clamp the boom securely while it cures. This repair will likely be stronger than all the remaining original glue joints in your boom.

For the second repair, I'd also do just what Brock suggested.

Paint is a bad idea for wooden spars because it doesn't allow you to see what's going on with the wood--as evidenced by your experience. This is why most wooden spars are varnished, and why they should always be varnished. People who paint their spars hoping to reduce their maintenance are often dooming the spars to complete failure.