So my boat has started taking on water. It is a fiberglass 17' open bow ski / fish boat just for a description. I personally have not hit it on rocks or ground. The first year I owned it, it was fine. Any way I did a few a tests and the final one I did in my yard I filled the oar trunk with water until it was full filling the bilge as well. I had boat on level ground. After about 2 minutes on the fore side on the keel it started to drip. There wasn't a noticeable crack that could be seen.
So my question is this what to do? Do I take to boat repair shop and see what they can do or is there a product I can fill in the along the keel? What's the best solution?
If you can get to the bare fiberglass around the drip/soak point, you may be able to put a fiberglass patch over the area plus some to keep it dry and seal it. It's just a quick thought. There are are a lot of variables effecting that solution.
What George said. When you say it is leaking at the keel. It would be important to know where on the keel the leak was coming from. I am not sure I know where you added water to find the leak. Filling the bilge, makes me think you had water from nose to transom in the lowest part of the boat. I would think the typical area would be right under the nose where it may have been pulled up on a ramp a few times. But it is important yo pinpoint that leak.
The fix. The best way would be to put on a coat od rosin then ass a layer of fiberglass cloth the coat it well with another coat of rosin. That can be done from the inside or outside and seal the leak but the inside is usually harder to get to.
Bow you could probably seal it with just a coat of rosin if it is just a hairline crack and you can fill that crack with the rosin.
Be careful if your going to use rosin and fiberglass material.
Everyone's right. You have to pinpoint the leak to make sure whats going on. Then you can determine if there are any structural problems with stringers etc.
The good news, if there is any. Fiberglass is easy to repair.
Its a slow and itchy process.
My number one tip.
If you have to do any grinding / sanding. Go buy you a full body tyvek paint suit. The one with the hood and feet built in. Wear surgical gloves and tape the wrist closed. As soon as your done go take a cold shower.
Justin, getting a really close look is what it takes. Now you and I are not of the age where belly crawling is easy so if you have any young fellows around that can follow verbal instructions, do that. Any spot leaking would most likely be visible.
There are right ways to repair a fiberglass "crack"...if its a "crack" and a "hole" if its a "hole". Justin, like Tom said, you just need to find out EXACTLY whats going on before you jump into making the repair. Repairing fiberglass is easy...basically a simple step by step process, but ya gotta know what you are dealing with first. I have done it many times on Corvette bodies (a buddy of mine and I were co-owners of a body shop) and the same process applies to boats as it does to the Corvette and other automotive fiberglass parts.
When I lived in Florida years ago I had a buddy that forgot to put the drain plug in his small boat.....it "leaked".....BAD!!!! LOL! Also knew some guys that had leaky boats and they always counted on the bilge pumps rather than to repair the leaks. I asked one of them "what happens if the bilge pump quits"...all I got was a blank stare. Never did fish with them!
my Carolina Skiff (great boat) kept taking water like Tom said it was a cracked fitting right at the hull interface for the livewell
took FOREVER to find the fitting after wasting many trips to boat places and hardware stores and contacting CS (no reply) I searched online through pdf catalogs and finally found one
Justin,
You’ve had a lot of advise, all of which is good and constructive.
All I would add is that once you find it, a leak is quite easily fixed by someone with the know-how.
However, something you must assess is how much water is trapped inside the hull and then have a plan to remove it. Has it infiltrated the wood of the stringers and is your floatation foam waterlogged. The leak is a short term issue but water trapped inside the hull will create ongoing issues.
Justin, let's take a look at this one more time. The more I think about it the more I am sure that you do not have a crack in your boat but rather a fitting of some type leaking. Either an intake fitting for a live well or maybe the hose connected to it. Or possibly the drain plug like I said. Check those closely. May be an easy fix. Hope so.
It's going to be a few days before I use the boat so I will repeat my last experiment that produced dripping. I will double check the areas that have been suggested in the replies. Thanks everyone for the time and thought. I know it's hard without pics and having details but I'm not experienced with names of parts yet or how boats are constructed as this is my first fiberglass. So I'm learning, learning I hate i/o lol
Justin,
It's an I/O???
If so there are a bunch of places that could leak water inside the hull. Water pump, engine block, cylinder head joint, water cooled exhaust manifold, and the outdrive gaskets in the transom.
Not trying to give you a heart attack but lots of potential leak spots that could be your water source.
Ya i apologize I should have give more info. My wife gets after me for my lack of descriptive information....
Yes it's an I/O. Hopefully my last I ever own. Out drives seem much less complicated. There was a spot on the front on the keel that was dripping. I'm not sure if it was running from another place. It's raining here so in a few days I'm going to repeat my experiment of filling the hull this time with me under the boat where the leak was. So I can try watching for it to begin.
Sounds like a plan Justin. If that is where it is leaking the fix should not be too bad. I almost hope that is it because it is much easier to fix than a leaking I/O seal or cooling system leak.
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