I recently bought a roughly 14 foot long Dunphy plywood rowboat (kinda similar to a perch model). It is in good shape, with the paint on the underside and sides being in decent shape aside from some very thin and relatively tight cracks in the paint(not the boat itself) aligning with the plywood construction layout that frankly are probably waterproof because of the physics of water and the crack being so thin. the only area I would suspect to be somewhat concern is that near the very front of the keel but still below the waterline the paint is peeling off a bit(not so much that it would get water anywhere else in the wood then the one spot). The wood itself is relatively solid and I will be sealing up a small crack in this area between the keel and boat before I take it out on the water, but my question is whether or not I should truly need to refinish the bottom of the boat before I take it out on the water. Otherwise, I was thinking of just taking it out on the water and if it leaked really bad refinishing the bottom. Will I be causing any damage to expose this bare wood to water? As said, it’s solid and not in bad shape, just does not have good paint on one spot and may absorb some water that could cause rot?
"Outboards seem to multiply exponentially..........I find that for every finished project, there are two more waiting to be completed."
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