Caulking, or Corking in some parts of the world; is a very important part of making the wooden boat waterproof.
You can try your hand at it in the boat shop on our corking board throughout the festival.
Traditional caulking (also spelled calking) on wooden vessels uses fibers of cotton and
oakum (
hemp fiber soaked in pine
tar). These fibers are driven into the wedge-shaped seam between planks, with a
caulking mallet and a broad
chisel-like tool called a caulking iron.
The caulking is then covered over with a
putty, in the case of hull seams, or else in deck seams with melted pine
pitch, in a process referred to as paying.
