Heavy Boat.Water in Hull?

reimelss

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Nov 28, 2007
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29033
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While Dry docking my boat the hauler mentioned that my boat was very heavy and he was having problems jacking it up. He mentioned that I might have water in the hull causing the boat to weight lots more...I checked the engine compartment where my bilge pump is and there is only a little bit of water...Not even enough to cause the float to kick on.
My question is, are there drains or plugs that I am not seeing or opening that are allowing water to sit in my boat some where?
Sorry for the noob question...
I have a 1986 century mirada 255, it has a 350 I/O with a new SE106 out drive on it.

Any help would be great.
 
Look over every inch of the bottom first. See if there are any small cuts or holes where water would seep in. It only takes a small opening for water to migrate everywhere.
Step on every square inch of the floor/deck, looking for soft spots. Good luck.
Buzz
 
I refinished the bottom last season and sanded down the hull, and it looked like it was in great shape...I didnt notice any deep scratches, marks or cracks. The paint went on great.
In the cabin the stick 0on tiles seem a little saturated/buckling, but i think this is from small leak in the hatch and the door going into the cabin...
 
Where is there coring? Have you tapped the hull looking for rot?
 
Is there any way that water can get into floatation compartments? I know with smaller and/or older boats with wood decking that water can get into the floatation comparments and saturate the foam.
 
I'd get a professional surveyor to inspect the boat to find out what you are dealing with, then you can make appropriate decisions about what to do next. The longer water sits where it doesn't belong, the more damage it is causing, so I would give this a top priority to find out. And do not put the boat back into the water until the problem is found and appropriately fixed!

Best of luck.
 
The boat doesnt have wood decking.
What am I looking for when tapping the hull looking for rot?
The hull seems solid, and the boat doesnt take on much water at all.
The guy jacking the boat up had an old jack that didnt seem large enough, and when we used another jack the boat went up easy and quickly, I am not sure if the guy was just saying the boat was heavy cause his jack was a POS or what, I just wanted to know the location of all drains.
 
only 1 drain aft center of transom outside boat, 1/2" brass pipe plug. get pro help on the water intrusion bro.
 
"In the cabin the stick 0on tiles seem a little saturated/buckling, but i think this is from small leak in the hatch and the door going into the cabin..."

This may be the source of your problem. Water can be very devious and the real damage may be somewhere quite removed from what you see. It may not be "in the hull", but I would want to have an expert check for all water damage.

When one sees s bit of water damage from a hatch or such, it should be completely addressed right away. The longer the problem exists, the worse the problem will be. Think of it as cancer in your boat.
 
How do I open that plug up?...its counter sunk.
Cancer in my boat sounds great..
 
Have you looked under the floor of the cabin. Any water that gets into the cabin (leaking water system, leaking drains, leaking windows, etc) will eventually end up here. You might not have a bilge pump in this area, so you could be accumulating a good bit of water. Your loose tiles might be clue.

Does the water line on your boat roughly match boot stipe? This probably isn't a perfect measure of weight, but it the waterline is significantly above the boot stripe you might really be heavy.

Mike
 
Sounds like he's suggesting that the hull has become waterlogged. As asked above, has the waterline changed? Has performance of the boat declined? Ie: are you able to reach WOT rpms suggested by the engine manufacturer? It could be a POS jack or you could have a problem. THere are surveyors out there who should easily be able to determine if you have a problem or not.
 
"Fiberglass" boats are in most cases anything but. To get strength at a minimum of weight and materials, the structural portion of the vessel will be built out of another material, often wood, working ultimately as a composite structure. You will have a stringer section, that is likely of wood or foam, either bare wood or wood covered in fiberglass. Your transom is almost surely cored with wood. Your decks, again cored with wood or foam. Any of these cored areas, if not 100% sealed, and not just the day it was built over 20 years ago, but also every day since then, all have the potential to eventually allow water intrusion. Once that happens, it can be very difficult to dry. In fact, once water logged it is in fact the drying process that tends to create rot, the wood stays happily wet and intact before that.

Tapping the hull is a simple, but effective method, often used by surveyors. The results from a thorough tapping from a learned individual are usually more effective than a moisture meter, the interpretaion of results from which is almost entirely in the hand of the user, not the machine itself. Essentially, one uses a non marking plastic headed hammer to "tap" the entire hull, looking for unexpected changes in the resulting tone. You calibrate the tap by establishing a benchmark sound in a known condition area and then listen for changes, usually a "dull" sound whereas other areas produce a "ringing" which indicates a change in the core material underneath (water intrusion).

Another method is to use a drill bit and drill into the core from an unseen location on the inside of the boat (not drilling all the way through). If the core is dry, you simply fill the hole with resin filler and move on. The drillbit technique is very effective, just be sure to fill any holes and you also must know your boat well enough to know where all coring areas are located on the boat.

Old compound foams and those in contact with water over many years can easily absorb water. Take a hard look at any "flotation" foam as it definately has the potential to turn into a gigantic sponge. An electric knife is a good tool for taking core samples of flotation foam, again seal any area that you expose.

bp
 
and what happens if I discover the hull to be water logged? is that the end?
 
It means big $$$ to fix it, generally. Whether it is the end or not depends on how much money you are prepared to spend, which generally translates to how much the boat in good condition is worth, as well as how much you want to keep it. It is possible to fix almost anything, my brother is in the process of replacing much of the balsa coring in a 30+ year old J-24 sailboat, but then he is a very good glass man that works in a marina and has access to a heated shop. That particular project probably makes no sense, but the boat will be just fine when he is finished with it.
 
Best to have a pro evaluate the problem.

If you feel like doing some of it yourself...first weigh the boat. Maybe your drydock has a scale. If not, trailer it to a truck scale, remove the boat and weigh again, just trailer and tow vehicle. Compare to Mfg's weight.

To test wood under any fiberglass, drill a hole and check the shavings for water. You have to drill many holes.

You may have 3/4" plywood for stringers and bulkheads. If they get soaked, they can add 2-4 time the weight. I pulled over 800 lbs of wet deck, stringers and bulkheads out of my 24' boat. I also used 25 gal($2000+) just in epoxy for the repairs but I did a lot of upgrades and stiffining to the hull. I add that bit of info so you get an idea of the potential costs for repairs. You may ultimately decide to just run her till she sinks.
 
Next spring weight the boat and compare it with the as built weight from the manufacture. If performance is up to par don't worry about it.
 
I have my boat weighed each time it is hauled and compare the numbers pre-season and post season. I also had to add all the extra weight from battery systems, thrusters, Inverters, the hardtop. Knowing the weight of all the extras and fuel in the tank keeps me with sound numbers. My boat has solid hull and sides.
It also doesn't sound like a guy jacking the boat up telling you it is heavy is scientific at all. You might not have any problems, then again you might.
Bill
 
quote:

Originally posted by jtybt15

Best to have a pro evaluate the problem.

If you feel like doing some of it yourself...first weigh the boat. Maybe your drydock has a scale. If not, trailer it to a truck scale, remove the boat and weigh again, just trailer and tow vehicle. Compare to Mfg's weight.

To test wood under any fiberglass, drill a hole and check the shavings for water. You have to drill many holes.

You may have 3/4" plywood for stringers and bulkheads. If they get soaked, they can add 2-4 time the weight. I pulled over 800 lbs of wet deck, stringers and bulkheads out of my 24' boat. I also used 25 gal($2000+) just in epoxy for the repairs but I did a lot of upgrades and stiffining to the hull. I add that bit of info so you get an idea of the potential costs for repairs. You may ultimately decide to just run her till she sinks.






Agree with all but having a pro look at it. WADR, the value of a 22 year old boat will be offset quickly by a pro doing a full hull analysis.

My 2 cents from my experience...

I had a 1979 Formula 233. Boats of that era have 1/2 inch plywood decks, 3/4 inch plywood stringers and are full foam between the deck and hull. The fuel tank may also be foamed in place.

I am thinking it has a carpeted deck, or painted and splatter painted. Look online into the floors original construction. If it is wood, I would recommend drilling through the deck just inboard of the joint of the hull and deck (safety first...check gas tank location) and see if the wood or foam is moist. If so, cut out the deck and shovel out the foam. If the fuel tank is foamed in place, anticipate a great deal of difficulty getting it out. The wet foam literally vacuumed my tank to the hull. It took two shovels and a lot of leverage to remove it.

When I redid my deck, I would venture to guess I took out 4-500 pounds of water logged foam. I let the hull set in the sun for several months to dry it out. I had no problems after that. While I don't own the boat any longer, it is on the water til this day. She is sporting yet another deck and a 454 on a Bravo I/O versus the original 350 power when I bought her. She does 63 MPH by GPS and cruises nicely at 38-40. She is a solid FG Hull.
 
I dont think he should wait until spring because the water will freeze over winter.
 
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