The 27′ catboat EVENTIDE was designed and built in 1933 by George Shiverick of Kingston, Massachusetts. The boat arrived at the author’s shop with its cedar planking largely in good condition, save for deterioration around the holes through which rusted iron clench nails passed. The doghouse is not original and will not be reinstalled.
Iron and oak are both wonderful materials, but if you combine the two in the form of a boat and add a pinch of salt water, you’re just asking for trouble. Eventually, the acid in the oak reacts with the iron, causing it to rust. The rusty iron then retaliates, often causing major degradation in the surrounding wood. Old boats that suffer from this affliction are called “iron sick,” or “nail sick.” Many otherwise good vessels have been scrapped because iron sickness is usually a general condition, and restoration would require replacement of most of the wood in the hull.
In autumn 2022, I was asked to look at EVENTIDE, a big 90-year-old catboat that had been donated to Community Racing, Inc, a nonprofit group based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The interior had been removed, giving excellent access to the hull structure, and it was no surprise that the steam-bent frames needed replacing because of iron sickness from the original wrought-iron clench nails. Much of the planking looked amazingly healthy, though, and I thought that there was a good chance that a lot of it could be saved.