Leaking Porthole
Towards the end of our last trip we noted that the top of a cabinet had a
water stain on it. After much lookng I determined that the water was leaking through the cored cabintop thru a screw hole onto the cabinet. Today I pulled out a suspect porthole and found a chip missing from the epoxy that seals the coring and this was letting water seep in. It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org |
Leaking Porthole
On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:00:02 -0600, Geoff Schultz
wrote: Towards the end of our last trip we noted that the top of a cabinet had a water stain on it. After much lookng I determined that the water was leaking through the cored cabintop thru a screw hole onto the cabinet. Today I pulled out a suspect porthole and found a chip missing from the epoxy that seals the coring and this was letting water seep in. It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org I had a similar problem with a deck and did some research. there seen to be three basic methods. One: cut away either the inner or outer skin until you reach dry core. Remove all wet core, replace core and re-skin. - A proper, expensive and permanent repair (Note the word EXPENSIVE). Two: Use some form of heat to dry the soaked core. I read about one individual who jury-rigged a microwave oven. Removed the door and bypassed the safety switch. Sat it face down on the deck and plugged it in. After considerable thinking I rejected that scheme as I reckoned one might generate sufficient steam to explode the deck. Three: Bore a number of holes through the outer or inner skin, say one per square inch, until you reach dry core. Vacuum bag area until core appears to be dry and fill holes with epoxy putty. Unfortunately, if you do not completely dry the core you will have problems in the future and, unless you use method 1 you won't know whether you solved the problem until the core softens. In any event, I used method 3 and no evidence of a failed core, so far. As an aside: If you completely saturate a plywood core and then seal it up it will take from 2 - 3 years for the saturated core to turn to a black mush. Don't bother to ask me how I discovered this bit of information. Another point to consider - what type of core do you have? If plywood or balsa you will need to dry it. If structural foam it is possible that it is a closed cell foam and cannot absorb moisture. Bruce-in-Bangkok (correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom) |
Leaking Porthole
Bruce in Bangkok wrote in
: On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:00:02 -0600, Geoff Schultz wrote: Towards the end of our last trip we noted that the top of a cabinet had a water stain on it. After much lookng I determined that the water was leaking through the cored cabintop thru a screw hole onto the cabinet. Today I pulled out a suspect porthole and found a chip missing from the epoxy that seals the coring and this was letting water seep in. It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org I had a similar problem with a deck and did some research. there seen to be three basic methods. One: cut away either the inner or outer skin until you reach dry core. Remove all wet core, replace core and re-skin. - A proper, expensive and permanent repair (Note the word EXPENSIVE). Two: Use some form of heat to dry the soaked core. I read about one individual who jury-rigged a microwave oven. Removed the door and bypassed the safety switch. Sat it face down on the deck and plugged it in. After considerable thinking I rejected that scheme as I reckoned one might generate sufficient steam to explode the deck. Three: Bore a number of holes through the outer or inner skin, say one per square inch, until you reach dry core. Vacuum bag area until core appears to be dry and fill holes with epoxy putty. Unfortunately, if you do not completely dry the core you will have problems in the future and, unless you use method 1 you won't know whether you solved the problem until the core softens. In any event, I used method 3 and no evidence of a failed core, so far. As an aside: If you completely saturate a plywood core and then seal it up it will take from 2 - 3 years for the saturated core to turn to a black mush. Don't bother to ask me how I discovered this bit of information. Another point to consider - what type of core do you have? If plywood or balsa you will need to dry it. If structural foam it is possible that it is a closed cell foam and cannot absorb moisture. Bruce-in-Bangkok (correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom) I have abalsa core. I could swear that I read about infusing an alcohol(?) solution which attracted water and evaporated quickly... -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org |
Leaking Porthole
On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:39:11 -0600, Geoff Schultz
wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote in : On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:00:02 -0600, Geoff Schultz wrote: Towards the end of our last trip we noted that the top of a cabinet had a water stain on it. After much lookng I determined that the water was leaking through the cored cabintop thru a screw hole onto the cabinet. Today I pulled out a suspect porthole and found a chip missing from the epoxy that seals the coring and this was letting water seep in. It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org I had a similar problem with a deck and did some research. there seen to be three basic methods. One: cut away either the inner or outer skin until you reach dry core. Remove all wet core, replace core and re-skin. - A proper, expensive and permanent repair (Note the word EXPENSIVE). Two: Use some form of heat to dry the soaked core. I read about one individual who jury-rigged a microwave oven. Removed the door and bypassed the safety switch. Sat it face down on the deck and plugged it in. After considerable thinking I rejected that scheme as I reckoned one might generate sufficient steam to explode the deck. Three: Bore a number of holes through the outer or inner skin, say one per square inch, until you reach dry core. Vacuum bag area until core appears to be dry and fill holes with epoxy putty. Unfortunately, if you do not completely dry the core you will have problems in the future and, unless you use method 1 you won't know whether you solved the problem until the core softens. In any event, I used method 3 and no evidence of a failed core, so far. As an aside: If you completely saturate a plywood core and then seal it up it will take from 2 - 3 years for the saturated core to turn to a black mush. Don't bother to ask me how I discovered this bit of information. Another point to consider - what type of core do you have? If plywood or balsa you will need to dry it. If structural foam it is possible that it is a closed cell foam and cannot absorb moisture. Bruce-in-Bangkok (correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom) I have abalsa core. I could swear that I read about infusing an alcohol(?) solution which attracted water and evaporated quickly... Forget it. It won't come even close to working. You'd have a tough time getting the water out of that balsa baking it for weeks in a warm oven. |
Leaking Porthole
On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:39:11 -0600, Geoff Schultz
wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote in : On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:00:02 -0600, Geoff Schultz wrote: Towards the end of our last trip we noted that the top of a cabinet had a water stain on it. After much lookng I determined that the water was leaking through the cored cabintop thru a screw hole onto the cabinet. Today I pulled out a suspect porthole and found a chip missing from the epoxy that seals the coring and this was letting water seep in. It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org I had a similar problem with a deck and did some research. there seen to be three basic methods. One: cut away either the inner or outer skin until you reach dry core. Remove all wet core, replace core and re-skin. - A proper, expensive and permanent repair (Note the word EXPENSIVE). Two: Use some form of heat to dry the soaked core. I read about one individual who jury-rigged a microwave oven. Removed the door and bypassed the safety switch. Sat it face down on the deck and plugged it in. After considerable thinking I rejected that scheme as I reckoned one might generate sufficient steam to explode the deck. Three: Bore a number of holes through the outer or inner skin, say one per square inch, until you reach dry core. Vacuum bag area until core appears to be dry and fill holes with epoxy putty. Unfortunately, if you do not completely dry the core you will have problems in the future and, unless you use method 1 you won't know whether you solved the problem until the core softens. In any event, I used method 3 and no evidence of a failed core, so far. As an aside: If you completely saturate a plywood core and then seal it up it will take from 2 - 3 years for the saturated core to turn to a black mush. Don't bother to ask me how I discovered this bit of information. Another point to consider - what type of core do you have? If plywood or balsa you will need to dry it. If structural foam it is possible that it is a closed cell foam and cannot absorb moisture. Bruce-in-Bangkok (correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom) I have abalsa core. I could swear that I read about infusing an alcohol(?) solution which attracted water and evaporated quickly... -- Geoff www.GeoffSchultz.org If you mix alcohol and water you get a mixture that will evaporate at a lower temperature. However, whether this mix will take place throughout the saturated area and whether the mix will totally evaporate and leave a dry core, is another question. But try it. As I implied, the only sure method of ensuring that all wetted core material is removed is to de-skin it, so all other methods are really sort of "suck it and see" solutions. Thus my caveat that there is "no evidence of a failed core, so far." Another method that I did use once, but is a miserable job, is to drill holes every inch or so all over the wetted area. then bend the tang of a file into an "ell" and dig out all the gorp you can dig out. Then pour mixed epoxy resin in the holes, quickly plugging any holes that overflow, until you have encapsulated the whole area with epoxy (Now pray that the large amount of resin is not going to get too hot) and when the epoxy sets up plug and fair with epoxy filler. Sand smooth, prime and finish paint. Even if you don't get all the bad stuff out you will have reinforced the structure so well that whether the remnants rot or not is probably immaterial. But it is a miserable job! Bruce-in-Bangkok (correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom) |
Leaking Porthole
On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:00:02 -0600, Geoff Schultz
wrote: It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? It's a tough repair which has been discussed on "rec.boats.building" from time to time in the past. You might be able to find some of the old threads by searching Goole Groups. Basically the core is damaged beyond repair where it has gotten wet. As others have said there are three basic methods: 1. Remove the top skin, replace/relaminate the core, replace the top skin. 2. Remove the bottom skin, repeat as above. 3. Drill a series of holes, dry with heat and/or a vacuum pump, fill holes with thickened epoxy, perform cosmetic fix on drill holes. Method 2 requires working from below which is difficult but may be easier cosmetically if the repair can be covered by the head liner. Method 3 is relatively quick and easy but long term integreity is suspect and the holes can be difficult to cover. The extent of core damage can be determined by examining the drilling residue. Method 1 is scary but probably yields the best long term out come. Some people have reported success making a thin cut around the perimeter of the repair using something like a Fein Multimaster to make the cut; lifting off the outer skin intact; and then replacing it at the end, leaving only the cut line to be patched up cosmetically. One difficulty is predetermining the extent of the core damage. |
Leaking Porthole
On Nov 5, 3:00*pm, Geoff Schultz wrote:
Towards the end of our last trip we noted that the top of a cabinet had a water stain on it. *After much lookng I determined that the water was leaking through the cored cabintop thru a screw hole onto the cabinet. * Today I pulled out a suspect porthole and found a chip missing from the epoxy that seals the coring and this was letting water seep in. It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. *How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? -- Geoffwww.GeoffSchultz.org Please provide the following info/specs: how is the port light oriented? Yes this is vague cause I want you to reply with maximum information! measurment of core thickness in mm or inches. measure ment of fiberglass ouside layer and inside layer. how is the fiberglass layed? Do people walk on the TOP of the prtlight? ie, within 2" of cabin roof (overheard) what size is the ID measurement of the hole? For example, 15"x17" etc.... bob |
Leaking Porthole
On Nov 5, 3:00*pm, Geoff Schultz wrote:
Towards the end of our last trip we noted that the top of a cabinet had a water stain on it. *After much lookng I determined that the water was leaking through the cored cabintop thru a screw hole onto the cabinet. * Today I pulled out a suspect porthole and found a chip missing from the epoxy that seals the coring and this was letting water seep in. It's fairly obvious that the coring is soaked. *How do I go about drying this out before sealing the leak and replacing porthole? -- Geoffwww.GeoffSchultz.org Oh, and on other import piece of information: What color is the pussy hair of your wife? Boob |
Leaking Porthole
On 2008-11-06 00:06:59 -0500, Wayne.B said:
Method 1 is scary but probably yields the best long term out come. Some people have reported success making a thin cut around the perimeter of the repair using something like a Fein Multimaster to make the cut; lifting off the outer skin intact; and then replacing it at the end, leaving only the cut line to be patched up cosmetically. One difficulty is predetermining the extent of the core damage. I did this with Xan's port deck a dozen years ago. Still haven't gotten to the starboard side. It was really a fairly easy job with our big flat deck. Might have taken 3 weekends to do the bulk of the work, and most of that was thinking or waiting. Surveyor said the delamination wasn't a problem if we didn't see stress cracks. Still none, so I put up with a bit of spring in my step on that side. Tip: A real nice way to chip core out of the corners is to fit router bits to a 6-12" drill extension with a ball bearing collar between the bits and extender. Lets you rest against the surface you want to NOT chip yet get pretty deep -- pretty much the length of the whole assembly. -- Jere Lull Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/ Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/ |
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