Here is a bit of advice
     on surveying a wooden boat:

     The best advice is to hire a wooden boatbuilder to do a survey, If you
     know a good wooden boatbuilder.  The extra things to look
     for in a larger boat would have to do with the deck, cabin trunk,
     cockpit, and how she has been stored.  The enclosed nature of a cabin
     boat leads to different problems in deck leaks and less ventilation,
     and their size means they are more often stored outside in damaging
     conditions.

     Rot happens when there is stagnant fresh water and insufficient
     ventilation.  On a decked and cabin boat, This usually means the
     hull-to-deck joint, clamp, shelf, and covering boards, the joints of
     the cabin and deck, the joints of cabin sides and top, and the
     maststep and bilge.  If she was stored outside and covered tightly,
     that would also hurt.

     On our boat, the deck and cabin top were fiberglassed but the glass
     wasn't brought down over the edge of the cabin top to cover the end
     grain of the plywood, so water and rot got in and tunneled everywhere.

     On another boat of mine, wood hull covered with fiberglass, the
     fiberglass bottom had leaks and so her bilges were always wet with
     salt water, so that kept the rot out.

     One problem with Teak decks: They are usually laid over a plywood
     subdeck, and fresh water can get in between where it is held by the
     plywood subdeck, leading to rot and an expensive replacement.

     It's hard to get at the planking of a fiberglass-over-wood hull or a double-diagonal planked hull to
     repair it, but the fiberglass sheathing might hold the structure
     together if it's too expensive to try to repair the pieces in there.

     If frames are cracked you can sister them with frames that you
     laminate in place.  It's expensive to replace them or steam bend them
     in place since they're covered by everything.

     The expensive worries to look for are rot or broken timbers in places
     that are hard to reach, as described above.  The likely worries are
     the places where rain and condensation will get in.  Also,
     condensation behind and below ice boxes will rot a lot of stuff in
     there long before it is discovered.

     Other details of H-28's not related to rot: They come with low,
     original design cabin trunks and with standing-headroom "dog house"
     (high at the after end) cabins.  They come with or with out bridge
     decks, bowsprits or masthead jibs.  They often have Atomic
     four engines, of which there is a lot of information on the internet.
     Since they were built any where by anyone, there's a great variety of
     details.
 
 
 

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