Question for you boat builders on replacing gussets

[RLLigman]

Lou,

Question: Why does wood rot faster in fresh water than in salt water? I would think it would be just the opposite due to all the critters in salt water. Being so far from salt water I don't have any experience with wood and salt.

Salt makes life difficult for fungi and bacteria that have to regulate their internal cellular osmotic pressures to avoid becoming so dessicated...same conceptual process used to preserve meats. Heavy metals also play havoc with transmembrane tansport mechanisims via porin channels, which are charged, as well as ATP driven transmembrane "pumps".

 

[frank middleton]

Good Science. Definitely boat rot from the inside, ie rain water.
Tod not that you need to be told you are right, but.... Okoume is certainly a last choice for traditional work. Fir always, and yes to cuprinol. If you want a marriage of the two schools the look at cpes. The theory there is that moisture can come and go... not encapsulated but lots of coating of the cell walls of the wood. It is very thin and soaks very deep. I've used it in places where annual applications of cuprinol would not be practical. It allows the wood to dry, but alo offers some degree of rot resistance and is a more "permanent" application as it cannot be leached away a the cuprinol can be.

All in all a lot of good advice above.
Frank