Steaming

In order to make new oak planks fit the curve of a wooden boat the wood needs to be made pliable by placing it in a box of steam and heating to as near to 100 degrees celsius as possible. After a couple of hours the 2 inch thick piece is ready to apply to the boat and you have a very small window before it cools and loses its flexibility. Juggling a heavy piece of wood 30 ft or more long can be interesting and requires plenty of people to handle it.


This box was made for this repair job and comprises five plastic drums with the bottoms cut out and two steel drums at the ends. Water is poured into the bottom drum through a hole which is seen here with a wooden bung in. The plank sticks through a slot in the top drum and can be seen disappearing around the side of the boat. The bending is only required at one end of the plank so it doesn't all have to be steamed. The steam box/tube is raised at one end so that the condensing steam runs back to the bottom. The main tube is wrapped in loft insulation and plastic sheet. Water is heated by propane torches in a small brick hearth. Simple but effective.