Yankee 30 Message Board

Posted by bill on 11/28/2004, 8:56 am, in reply to "Broken Spreader"
207.157.252.11

When I bought my boat there were some soft spots in the spreaders so I decided to replace them. I looked around for some spruce but couldn't find what I wanted so I replaced them with VERTICAL GRAIN DOUGLAS FIR. I know that this wood is not the best as far as rot is concerned but I treated it with some green antifungal material and then painted them and they seem to be doing fine. I have painted them a couple times and have never found any signs of rot in them. I purchased the fir at a lumber yard and made sure that the grain was perfectly straight. The lumber is not cheap but if you do the labor yourself you end up with some inexpensive spreaders. I planed them to the proper thickness, rough sawed them on a band saw and finished them off by hand. I would be interested in finding a simple solution for replacing the wood with aluminum so if anybody out there did that give us the benifit of your experience. --Previous Message-- : I was wondering if anyone out there had : replaced their spreaders? If so did you do : them yourself or have them manufactured? : Just trying to get an idea on cost and : materials. Any assistance would be greatly : apprecited. Thanks! : :