BOSUN’S BAG
May 01, 2020
4 minutes
WORDS TOM CUNLIFFE
ILLUSTRATION
MARTYN MACKRILL
STOPPING UP
nce a seam in a plank-on-frame wooden boat has been caulked with cotton or oakum, the final stage in keeping out the water is the stopping. I’ll never forget tackling this job on my 50ft (15.2m) pilot cutter. She’d just been caulked afresh by Alastair Garland at The Elephant Boatyard on the Hamble River. I wasn’t the world’s worst caulker by any means, but the boat had been suffering a chronic, undiscoverable leak and I felt that handing the job to a professional might give her a better chance. The leak itself is not
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