[Public-list] Saturated Hull, Bilge Damage

[Bill Blevins]

Matthew,

I think we are talking about two different things. I went and studied it
more last night. The "floor" that I'm talking about is fiberglass resin
about a quarter-inch thick and runs the length of the bilge below the
battery boxes to the aft end of the keel. The "black silica / sand" I refer
to is beneath that and has the consistency of poorly mixed concrete. It
crumbles in your fingers. Before this happened, the bilge was very clean.
When I was vacuuming out the little bit of water that the bilge pump didn't
get, I sucked up a 3x4 inch section of that epoxy floor. The suction
basically bored a hole through the sand to a 2 x something below at the very
bottom of the keel. Also my cockpit drains go directly to two through hull
fittings, not into the bilge.

About the drain you mentioned. Where exactly is that located?

Bill Blevins
"Sabrina" #158

--

If what you say is correct, then there was a false floor poured at some
point over the black sand/silica mixture on Sabrina. The fiberglass floor of
what was my "old" bilge was about 3 inches above the wood and was poured
over the sand mixture with a thickness of about a quarter-inch. I did
consider removing the engine.

So, you used a bilge coat over the wooden beam and that was it? How far
forward of the engine compartment does the bilge go? Under the floor in the
main cabin? The battery boxes in the floor drain below to some space. Did
you deal with that in any way?

Bill Blevins
"Sabrina" #158

--

On 4/20/04 10:39 AM, "Matthew Hay" <haymatthew_ at hotmail.com> wrote:


> Bill their is a lot of debris under your engine.  The sand is most likely
> from the cockpit drains.  The piece of wood is in the bottom of your bilge
> was to act as an anchor to screw bilge pumps too etc.  My hypothesis is that
> so much sand ends up in the bottom of your bilge from the cockpit drains,
> that over the years that wood piece is covered, and new anchoring devices
> are used to mount pumps on top all of the sand.  I recommend removing your
> engine in order to remove the sand, clean, and degrease, and paint, your
> bilge.  I did the same thing to my bilge last month.  I had the engine out
> and went down to the boat to paint the bilge.  After taking a closer
> examination I realized that what I thought was the bottom of the bilge was
> in fact about a foot of sand/grease/oil/water in the bottom of the bilge.  I
> used a large spoon and slowly scooped out all of the sand mixture as well as
> a few 1960's style tools, numerous washers, some strange home made device
> made out of copper tubing.  It is not easy to see the bottom of your bilge.
> If I did not have the engine out I would not have been able to see the
> bottom.  I essentially had to crawl down into the bilge with my spoon acting
> as an auger to see the bottom.  I felt like Clint Eastwood in escape from
> Alcatraz.  How would you be able to notice a crack in your bilge with the
> engine in place and sand filling the bottom of it?
> Furthermore, all of that sand mixture holds a lot of moisture.  That could
> effect your moisture readings.  I have a drain hole in the bottom of my keel
> that made this project much easier.  After I had  scooped out the bulk of
> the the sand and engine parts etc. I used a hose with nozzle to flush the
> remaining sand out the drain.  It also makes it easier to get the water out
> in the fall and I just leave the plug out all winter.  I would really be
> more concerned with water in my deck core.  Which you said is not very bad.
> Good Lock,
> Matthew #314
>



I'm in a situation... My hull is saturated! 30% plus over most of the
underwater area on a marine grade moisture meter. The topsides are in the
dry range at 8%. Sabrina will be drying out for a while. Do any of you have
experience with how long this might take? I'll take new reading next week
and compare with my pencil marks all over the hull. Very sad. :(

I've removed all of the gelcoat and finished sanding the hull this weekend.
I found about 20 areas of blistering and delaminating, each about 3-5 inches
wide, through the first layer of matt, actually found more but they seem to
be dry inside so I'm leaving them alone.

Anyway...THE BIG PROBLEM I found Saturday was that the floor of the bilge
had a big crack. When I was vacuuming out the little water that the pump
wouldn't get, I sucked up a piece of the fiberglass. Then it started! The
sandy material below was soaked and I sucked out a 5 x 12" area down to the
wooden plank below.

What is the fix for that after it's dry? How do you ever know if you have
cracks forward of the area under the engine? Do people ever cut out the
floor and battery boxes to repair? Do you think that's necessary?

Bill Blevins 
A30 Sabrina #158 


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