Winter Rot!

[Froglet]

Well not really winter, but rot nonetheless. I found this in November. We had some nice weather so I took the boat out and when I got one of the seats out of the garage something tickled my arm. I thought it was a spider for a moment and nearly Frisbee’d the seat across the garden before I realised it was just a big hairy shroom.

With the seat cover removed...

When I bought the boat 2nd hand it came with the seat with a Honwave seat bag fitted and I’d never taken the bag off. My boat lives outside on a trailer, but I store all the gear in a dry garage, but here was a fairly substantial bit of fungus growing through the seam of the seat cover. When I removed the cover the cause became apparent. A couple of cracks in the fibreglass had let moisture and spores get at the wood underneath. I don’t remember bashing the seat so I guess it could be damage from the previous owner.

Fast forward to January and I’d removed the seat cover to let everything dry out completely when I went into the garage to find this:

Another nice crop of mushrooms. Yay!

Anyway I cleaned them off in January and nothing new has sprouted since then so I just plan to skim over the cracks with some Sikaflex. Or does anyone have better suggestions? Not sure how much these benches flex, but thought a skim of epoxy might just crack again.

[PeterM]

Pour some bleach in there to kill any fungus or bacteria - which are the things that actually cause stuff to rot .

Bring the seats in and put them in the airing cupboard if you have one ( or a friend/ family members if you don't) - then sikaflex

[Froglet]

Nice idea with the bleach. I hadn't considered that. I do have an airing cupboard... ...and a very understanding wife.

[Stray]

You want to dig a screwdriver in to see how rotten the wood is. If it's not too bad, dig out the rot, put wood hardener on the remaining wood and fill with wood filler. Might be time for a new seat though.

[Froglet]

Might be time for a new seat though.

Prophetic words.

Well I had a good dig around and the wood seemed pretty solid. I used bleach to kill off the shrooms and left the seat in the airing cupboard for a few days. Once apparently completely dry I filled the crack with Sikaflex and jobs a goodun........

Fast forward to this weekend and the group jaunt over to IoW. On the way to Ryde we weren't moving at a crazy pace, but motoring along on the plane when I hit a few bumpy bits aaaaannnnndddd..... CRACK! ..... seat snapped in half.

The only danger came from my wildly erratic steering input while falling off the seat, but luckily didn't end up flinging myself out of the boat.

If anyone doubts the good sense of sibbing in company I was impressed how fast the group were alongside checking I was ok. I had the GoPro running and from the time the seat broke to @Mitch pulling up to check what happened was about 20 seconds. Closely followed by most of the rest of the group.

Luckily I had two seats with me so a quick switch over and I was on my way again.

With hindsight I don't think this was just the rot. I think the ply was already cracked deep inside the seat, so with a slightly pie-assisted arse-bump it was curtains!

New seat or build my own. Yet to decide. The plastic hooks are present and correct on the broken seat so would be easy to switch over to a bench of my own making.....

[Sarah]

I think we need to see the go pro footage.... :-D
Ps. Hope you were ok....good to hear others were there.

[Mitch]

Your never alone when you come out with us mate, there’s always someone watching you especially as it was your first time out on the sea.
I made my own, b&q do a short scaffolding board for about £10 a bit of paint to match the other one & away you go, a hell of a lot cheaper than a new one.

[Steve]

I'm with Mitch - make your own! Have you seen the price of the official seats - wow!

I bought an oak plank locally, which was the correct width but double the length for £20. Oak is a good wood around water, as it can get wet and doesn't rot. It's very strong so can be thinner and therefore lighter than the original. I've not treated or painted mine, but it's got a seat bag over it so mostly not visible. It should fade grey over time..