Wood rot

[higgs]

Poking around the interior I found some rotted wood - non structural. A leak into my hanging locker has caused the problem rotting out a few inched of a one inch thick non structural bulkhead. How long does it take to rot out inch thick wood is my question? Obviously it would not happen in a year or even two. This wood is completely rotted from one side to th other.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

how long? how wet?

an inch thick piece of wood could rot out in a year, if constantly immersed. (IMHO).

but usually it takes a few years to be so soft you can stick a spoon thru it...

 

[Winkfish]

What kind of wood? Ply? Particle board? Solid wood? Perticle board, for example, could deteriorate fairly quickly, so it might not be true "rot." Has the "rot" spread to other connected wood?

 

[higgs]

The wood is teak plywood. Too my knowledge it has never been completely submerged or at least since I have owned the boat. I'm wondering if the problem could have actually started prior to me owning the boat. Once rot sets in, does it spreaad to areas nearby even if no new moisture in introduced?

 

[Ross]

Teak plywood has only teak face plys. I have no idea about the core plys. Wood distroying fungus needs more than 30 percent moisture to grow. Poplar will rot through in a year, red oak will last 1 to 3 years. Red lauan is fairly durable. If wood is completely submerged there won't be enough oxygen to support the fungus.
In your case if you can keep it dry it probably will remain as it is for a very long time. Digging out the soft wood won't remove the active growth. When you get it very dry soaking some copper napthanate into the area may help.

 

[wetass]

Doesn't have to be completely submerged, it just needs moisture and air and once it sets in, it doesn't need as much as it did to start. Teak plywood is usually only teak on the outer ply, so teaks rot resistance doesn't really protect you here. Lockers can be bad for rot/fungus and mold since they are not usually well ventilated - any moisture that does get in there stays in there. That little bit of extra moisture and humidity can be enough to keep the rot going, but it still does need some elevated moisture - in other words, if it were completely dry, it wont rot, but it doesn't need to be dripping wet either - actually in my experience, rot seems to work faster if its not constantly submerged.

Once you fix the bulkhead and the leak, make sure the locker is well ventilated. LIkely its been there for a while - maybe the outer teak plys were the last to go so you didn't notice until now.

 

[wetass]

Ross beat me by that much.....

One more trick I have heard of to make sure the fungus is dead is to use anti-freeze to kill the rot (not the pet safe kind though) - Never tried it myself, I have always removed the bad sections, but have heard of people doing it.

 

[Ross]

Higgs ,you have seen my rants about ventilation. So I won't repeat them here but if you put a computer fan in the area of the rot and drive it with a small solar panel it will help a lot in maintaining a uniform level of moisture.

 

[higgs]

Will rot continue to spread even if the source of moisture is shut off?

 

[Ross]

No. It goes dormant. It will start to grow if the moisture returns. Borax is toxic to mold and fungus as is copper sulfate both are water soluble so they will need to be replenished if there is enough water to rinse them away. Copper napthanate is solvent borne and very effective but it stinks like rancid gasoline.