The find of the day was at the local Fisheries Supply annual swap meet. We stumbled across it accidentally this morning and although the breeze was quite brisk, we perused the stands. And found EXACTLY what we needed. We’re currently replacing a few deck planks on the bow and it’s tough to come across caulking tools. Brock was thrilled to come across these. Caulking is the traditional method of sealing seams between the planks on wood boats. Made of cotton in our case (as opposed to oakum, which reacts chemically with the 5200 caulk we put on top),, the caulking is driven into the wedge-shaped gap between the planks. When the planking swells from exposure to water, the caulking material is squeezed and it forms a watertight seal. These tools are what you use for pounding in the cotton. We picked up three different sizes and should be able to get great seals between the boards with this project.

There was a lot more cool stuff, but knowing how much work we have ahead this weekend, we appreciated the find and headed back to the boat.