wooden boat repair

[Roger]

Is there a marine wood coloured filler on the market that I can use to fill old screw holes and do a few other filling repairs on my woodies transom?, which is a faded varnished mahogany ply.

[Dave Barker]

Hi Roger,

You could fill the holes, but unless you go to a lot of trouble ‘faking’ the grain the repairs will stand out however well the basic colour matches the existing ply. It’s the blank uniformity of filler that gives it away.

Arguably a better solution may be to drill out a neat hole at each location, then cut some long-grain plugs of matching diameter either from solid hardwood or from some matching marine ply, then glue the plugs in place, slightly proud of the surface, taking care to match the grain direction.

If you use plywood for the plugs be careful with the grain direction – the alternating veneers could catch you out when you trim the plugs flush with the surface!

You could use a plug cutter in an electric drill to make the plugs or even a lathe if you have access to one (or know someone who does). Some plug cutters leave a slight taper, which helps you to get a really tight fitting plug. (The same result can be achieved with a lathe of course).

Personally I prefer to see a repair done like this than a filled hole, even if the colour and grain match isn’t quite exact. For other repairs (cracks etc.) the same principle applies, depending on the size of repair involved. A really sharp chisel may be your best friend in this case.

I should add that ‘Shearwater’ has a number of filled holes…

[Roger]

Dave, that sounds like the right way to do it and if the previous owner  had adopted that method then I would have continued with it, but he didn’t so I’ve used epoxy mixed with micro balloons for colour and coloidle fibers for body,( I’m sure they’re not spelled like that but you get the picture). It matches very well and is only noticeable if you get right up close. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Dave Barker]

That makes sense and you’ve used a sound technique.

[Swiebertje]

The best answer has already been given by Dave, but in woodworking we sometimes hide our mistakes by a mixture of white wood glue and  sawdust (or the dust from sanding). This method ensures an exact matching colour. I don’t see why this method wouldn’t work with epoxy as well.

You wrote the mahogany of your transom is fading. A good sanding may bring some life back to the transom as well as giving you the right colour sawdust for the screw holes.

[AUTHOR]

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