Your boat is only as good as the quality of your materials.
And perhaps the most obvious difference between a good boat and a bad boat is the
wood. But even quality wood sometimes gives way to rot. What matters is what
you do about it. In this brief guide, we’ll examine the best marine wood
filler—
Git-Rot™—and
how to use it to repair your boat’s rotting wood.
How to Tell When Your
Wood Needs Git-Rot
We’ve put together a comprehensive
guide to using Git-Rot that
includes diagnosing and locating dry rot. To summarize here: Simply tap any
questionable-looking areas of your wood and listen for hollow spots on the inside.
You can use an ice pick or even a sharp knife to probe these spots—always
aiming away from people—to see what’s going on inside.
Generally, dry rot only affects old wood, as this is a
problem caused primarily by age. But if you haven’t looked at your wood in a
while, there’s always a possibility that a boat has aged without you noticing.
Treating Dry Rot With
Marine Wood Filler
Git-Rot is arguably the best marine wood filler on the
market. The
Git-Rot kit
provides you with two materials that you’ll have to mix when it’s time to
apply. You can find a visual guide to mixing the two liquids into a solution by
watching this
instructional
video
.
This kit comes with a syringe for easy application into fine
fibers of the wood once you’ve identified the dry rot problem. After shaking
the mixture together in the syringe for exactly one minute, it’s ready to
apply. The solution then works its way into the fibers through capillary
action. You can use a mixture of sawdust and solution to cap it all off.
The key to application is applying to end grain whenever
possible. Because end grain opens up access to little wood capillaries—and
capillary action is how Git-Rot works—you’ll have the most success if you can
penetrate directly into the end grain of the affected wood.
After applying, be sure to wait 24 hours before using your
boat or screwing back any screws.
Why Does Git-Rot
Work?
It may seem strange that you can fix rotted wood, but this
unique solution will cure overnight and enhance the strength of the wood’s
interior. Chances are the wood may even feel like new after that. Give it a
tap, just as you did before. You should notice that there isn’t the same
“hollow” sound of dry rot.
Git-Rot also works because you can sand and paint over the
area when it’s been cured, which essentially gives you all of the benefits of
new wood. This makes it one of the best marine wood fillers around when it
comes to restoring a boat to its former glory—both inside and out.
Want to find more? Keep browsing our site for boat
Wood & Metal restorers
that can give your craft a second wind.
