: If you know you're going to have to wait while (weeks) to glass the inside
: surfaces of your deck and hull, I'd suggest wrapping and sealing the whole
: thing in plastic to keep the moisture equalized.

: The way to know if you'll have problems or not, is to keep and monitor
: a humidity gage in your shop. Write down the humidity level when you
: stripped the boat and keep track of how much it changes. You can try to
: keep the humidity level of your shop equilized by having a steam kettle
: on the stove or a humidifier going or by closing up your shop and turning
: up the heat, to dry things out, which is the usual problem with shops in
: in the winter.

: I use a combination temperature/humidity gage that cost under $20.

: If you wrap up your boat in plastic, it would be good to have one of these
: gages inside the cockpit opening to see if you can maintain an even humidity
: level. If not, you could cut a flap open and add heat or a pot of water to
: adjust
: the humidity level to where it needs to be and tape the flap closed again.

: All the best,

: Rob Macks
: Laughing Loon CC&K
: www.LaughingLoon.com

Logic would tell me that if he glassed the hull on the forms and that some time later found that the hull had spread, that the moisture in the wood increased, making the wood swell. The cure, would be then, to set the hull out in the sun and check the width periodically as the wood dries.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried this approach and how it worked.

I've always had the opposite experience, that the width became smaller after removing the hull from the molds. This I attribute to springback, since the strips are bent and want to straighten out. I keep pretty much a constant humidity in my shop. In Washington State, it's not a big problem. In other parts of the country, I can imagine it is a huge problem.

Regards,

Al Gunther, Kingston, WA