Water in hull. Help

[Darren J]

Agree with Scalem - air injection for sealed compartments. Easy to do and better than sinking your boat to force it out!.

I had an early 90's Seafarer Victory 17. Started getting water in the sealed compartments (can't remember if one or both now?) on certain trips. Hard to say how much, but could have been 5 litres from a full day out. At first I dismissed it as crap on the bung seal. Replaced them both (they were old and hard), but problem re-ocured, although did not seem as bad I don't think. Then noticed small amounts of moisture (maybe 100ml) sometimes from prolonged rain (a number of days with cover on but water could still get to the floor). Also from a good hose out.

I ended up getting an old bike tube with threaded valve stem (Schrader valve form road bike type). Drilled a hole through the centre of the old plastic bung. Fitted up valve stem and tightened (rubber flap from the tube on inside, locking screw outside).

Pressurised chamber lightly with compressed air. Got the hose and dampened areas all over.
Found air coming out of a few areas - seat base screws, they were large and a couple stripped so letting some water in. Found minor leaks coming from hairline cracks in the floor gelcoat that ran the length of the boat where the floor meets the hull sides. Also some from battery mount screws in the rear corners (both sides). The battery mounts I think were the real culprits - they got the most water either when in use or in storage.

Much to my shock, sealing and sorting these solved the problem completely. I didn't think that much water would get in, but on a day out, some of these areas can get repeatedly wet, and the ager can sit in the corners particularly if anchored up etc. Maybe the amount of water was a lot less than I thought that came out, but when a bung runs for 30 seconds to a minute at the ramp, its not normal!. In reality my problem was likely a combination of all (bungs originally, battery mounts, to a minor degree seat mounts and floor joint leaks).

The boat was never going to sink from it, but I didn't like the idea of timber floors getting unnecessarily wet. It also prompted me to deal with the hairline cracks in the floor gel coat, as it obviously was letting water into the floor and no doubt would rot it out prematurely.

Never had water from those compartments again.

Hope this helps you eliminate the issue.

[shakey55]

Finally home from a ting trip. I have a fair bit in my plate at the moment and will get around to identifying the problem as soon as possible.

Thanks for the many replies and suggestions.

Once I have sorted out the problem I will report back.

Unfortunately it may be some time.

Thanks


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