This video contains a plea, “If you do not know how to repair rotted members, please do not try. You only make matters worse.”
And whoever had his/her hands on this boat clearly lacked the knowledge, but did not allow that fact to stand in the way of what must be the most abysmal work we have seen, and now must undo to date.
The aft half of the part spray rail must have begun rotting. In fact , as is clear in the clip, the rot had progressed well beyond “just starting.” The below-waterline transom plank was in even more severe dire straits. Band aids do not a proper repair make.
Indeed, what was done to the spray rail only succeeded in trapping water and propelling the rot, as you can see by viewing the aft-most foot or so. A proper repair, releasing the rail and replacing the rotted aft section using a scarf joint, must have been well beyond this person. Better to glop the goo into place and hope for the best.
We must carefully release the rail, if only to see what trapped water has done to the planking behind it, and then fabricate a new section that will be scarfed to the forward portion.
But the transom work is truly special. All the filler that is visible along the entire lower edge of the bottom plank made me wonder is any of it had survived. When my scraper blade unearthed a brass strip nailed across the entire bottom of the transom and riding on the bottom planking, I knew. No wood had survived so the wood putty was inserted into the void across the entire bottom edge of the transom.
Then there is the rest of this plank, a good 70% of it being completely gone and replaced with more putty.
What is our plan forward? I just do not know until we have flipped the boat to reveal the bottom planking. As you can see at one point in the clip, I have already revealed more wood putty just ahead of the transom where the first bottom plank and it meet.
I fear that my adventures with wood putty have just begun.