Caulking Small Boats

摘要

Caulking is the process of forcing material into the seams of a boat to make them watertight. Caulking material can be a synthetic rubber that cures in place, or a fiber driven into the seam and held by friction and a soaking in thin paint, which seals it. Although lapstrake seams can be caulked, and indeed the lapped steel plates of riveted ships were caulked by peening their edges, this two-part article will be limited to caulking carvel hull seams in wooden boats of small to moderate size. First let's look at materials and tools.