Wooden boat wax?
MDCEN
I own a wooden single rowing shell. The boat is only in the water during
use. It is kept inside all other times.
It was recommended that I cover the varnish with a coat of wax. Both a
furnature and car wax were recommended by different people.
Can anyone suggest an appropiate protection to the hull.
Thank you in advance.
Mark
Pat Ford
100% Carnuba wax. "Classic Car Wax" is one.
Regards,
pcf
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Jeff Breuer
is called "Bowling Alley Wax."
^,,^ // michael
mark,
fwiw, i was a coxswain for the us nat team years ago (late 70's). at
that time the standard was lemon oil, but i started using hard wax then
wet sanding along the horizontal axis (ie, bow to stern) with extremely
fine (600+) sandpaper. i knew from the east german shell speed studies
of the time that a smooth finish causes air bubbles to stick to the
shell and result in drag. if absolute performance is an issue for you
you might consider this. i'm surprised how few racing sailors use this
technique.
i have since become a hobbyist furniture builder and learned a few
tricks. from my perspective:
- lemon oil is useless and most home furniture waxes are similar
- almost all car waxes contain abrasives, which while extremely fine may
remove too much varnish over time. some of the newer acrylic and poly
formulas work very poorly on varnished wood (and say so on the label).
- i agree that carnuba based wax would likely be best for your needs.
pure carnuba is very hard and hence tough to work with. but the more
you mix carnuba for workablilty (usually with beeswax) the more you
loose carnuba's hardness advantage. i have done pure carnuba waxing by
heating it in a double boiler and then applying it with an old iron set
_very_ low and covered with a wax saturated cloth.
-finally, clean is as important as waxed. with most bodies of water
sadly polluted, hosing the shell off with tap water then wiping it with
a clean cloth every time you use it will likely do more to maintain it
than the best wax idea (keeping it out of the sun is also important -- i
recall surprising damage to an empacher single that had just a bit of
the shell exposed to light from a small window in storage).
if you are interested, when i was cox'ing in the late '70s the east
germans (ddr) began to design shells that were notably narrow and deep
rather than the wide and shallow design that was customary in shells of
the day. their tank studies (and pure physics) convinced them that the
traditional idea of getting the shell up and planing during the stroke
was ultimately counterproductive -- as the energy required to lift the
boat, 8 x 200lb+ oarsmen, (and a 110.0001 lb coxswain) even 2 inches
each stroke more than erased any planing advantage. i coxed for both
mike vespoli and and cal coffee (at vesper) at the time -- and they went
on to revolutionize american shell design by incorporating this.
compare a current vespoli or coffee to an old pocock and you'll see the
difference.
on a more lunatic front, at one point the ddr team shells were
constructed with a man-made shell material that was notably pliable
(about as 'squishy' as a medium-rare steak). this was based on their
studies of porpoises -- they found that porpoises go 'faster' then they
should (?) for their shape and energy output (lord knows how they
determined the latter). they deduced that the pliable flesh of the
porpoise's body reduced the force vectors perpendicular to the shell and
in doing so reduced drag. i don't know if they still do this, or if it
was effective -- but i can tell you the 'psyc' factor was quite real.
MDCEN wrote:
> I own a wooden single rowing shell. The boat is only in the water during
> use. It is kept inside all other times.
> It was recommended that I cover the varnish with a coat of wax. Both a
> furnature and car wax were recommended by different people.
> Can anyone suggest an appropiate protection to the hull.