Hi all,
I have fixed this one for a while - I used the 2 big washers
approach, and its completely watertight. - I'm not sure what to do
long term - comment about getting it surveyed asap is what I would
normally do, but it was surveyed 6 weeks ago, and passed with flying
colours (min 5.5mm of steel). Makes you wonder why I paid for the
survey. I'm going to remain watchful - even if another hole like this
opens up I have a day or 2 to spot it and fix it, and given I work on
the boat most days, I don't think it'll sink too fast.
It also makes me think I need to seal up some ribs (so that the
water will fill up one section of the boat good and deep, so be easier
to detect/pump should it happen again), and put in some detection
system. does anyone else have anything like this?

cheers

Jim



Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:23:00 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Hi all,
No rush for answers on this one, but I'm sinking... I found a bit
of water in the bilges and put it down to something benign, but on
inspection, found a blister on the paint inside the hull, which when I
burst revealed a ~2mm square hole in the hull on the bottom of the
boat. I've plugged it with gaffer tape, rubber mats and bits of wood
for now, but has anyone got any neat ways of fixing this without
taking it out of the water (boat is a 20 tonne wrought iron/mild steel
dutch barge, and a proper repair job would be ~�700)?
I'm thinking a bolt with a big rubber washer on both sides and
liberal use of silicon sealant. I'm hoping the rot is very localised.

cheers

Jim
UK

The old fashion way was to whittle a tapered wood plug and drive it in
the hole. The wood will swell and make a tight joint. A more modern
way is two big washers, or plates, depending on the size of the hole,
gaskets, bolts and sealant. On a ship they will sometimes pour a
compartment half full of cement. If you can keep the water from coming
in for a while you can grind the inside to clean metal and apply a
fiberglass patch. Needs to be dry though. You can also get epoxy putty
that can be applied under water.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)