xtra wrote:
Hi

I have just got my first fibreglass hulled boat (14 FOOT HALF CAB) and it
appears to have a large leak into the underfloor bilge. After about 4 hours
on the water I have about 4 gallons or more of seawater come out of the
bungs. I have looked under the boat and beyond normal looking scratches in
the gelcoat the only breaches of hull integrity are the front metal centre
strip running back under the hull fixed with screws. I have silicaned this
but with no reduction in bilgewater.

Any other ideas I may have missed?

Cheers

DJ


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It can be deceptive, what looks like a tiny crack or scratch in the gel
coat, can go right through to the glass.

As the boat flexes, they all do, it opens etc letting water in.

Fibreglass itself is surprisingly porous, it's the gel coat one side &
oft the flow coat on the inside that seal it all up. So if water can get
through the gel coat yes it will leak & worse if the hull has suffered
an impact then the underlying glass layup may be damaged (cracked).

Might be best to try & identify exactly where the leak is, assuming you
trailer it, you can leave the water in the underfloor, wipe the hull dry
or just let it dry, then see where any part remains moist at or near a
crack etc, wipe that till dry then check it again if it's moist again
then there is the place.

Careful, the underfloor can hold a huge weight of water, & the boat is
not designed to take load in that direction, nor is the trailer probably
designed to hold it:-) so do it slow & only add a little water if you
don't find any moist parts so think it's getting in further up the hull.
Especially don't go getting under when it's only supported by the
trailer, scary bananas:-)

Once you have ID'd the leak site, you can then empty the water, grind,
clean, dry out & if the glass itself is OK just refinish that area with
a Q cells/resin paste (FGI sell both & give good advice for free:-))
then gel coat or one of the epoxies. If you even remotely suspect the
underlying glass is damaged, repair it because just patching the surface
will only stop the leak for a short time.

Good luck get back & let us know how it goes.

K