Inaccessible parts of 2452 bilge.-gctid368766

[Guest]

As you look into the bilge of a 2452 (mine is 1993, 5.7l) through the port and starboard deck hatches in the cockpit, you see a floor of sorts in those locations. They seem fairly sturdy, I have stood on them, and layed down in one of them to slide up under the helm. Quite an exercise in contortion.

Underneath that floor, this whole area extends from the transom up to the main bulkhead. And from the engine stringer to the outboard side of the hull. It is probably a foot deep at the part closest to the center of the boat. So it forms a large cavity at the chine, outboard of the engine stringers, on both sides of the hull.

But my question is what is inside of those? If makes me nervous to have an enclosed area that I can't access or see into. It is a pretty large space, and could hold a lot of water in an older boat like mine.

What I will probably do at some point is cut a 6" circular hole in one of them to see, and then plan to put a screw in deck plate back in there. It seems like there are probably only two possibilities, one is that it is filled with foam, the other is that it is an empty space.

If you have already done this on your boat, please let me know what you found.

Thanks!

[Guest]

NickReynolds wrote:
As you look into the bilge of a 2452 (mine is 1993, 5.7l) through the port and starboard deck hatches in the cockpit, you see a floor of sorts in those locations. They seem fairly sturdy, I have stood on them, and layed down in one of them to slide up under the helm. Quite an exercise in contortion.

Underneath that floor, this whole area extends from the transom up to the main bulkhead. And from the engine stringer to the outboard side of the hull. It is probably a foot deep at the part closest to the center of the boat. So it forms a large cavity at the chine, outboard of the engine stringers, on both sides of the hull.

But my question is what is inside of those? If makes me nervous to have an enclosed area that I can't access or see into. It is a pretty large space, and could hold a lot of water in an older boat like mine.

What I will probably do at some point is cut a 6" circular hole in one of them to see, and then plan to put a screw in deck plate back in there. It seems like there are probably only two possibilities, one is that it is filled with foam, the other is that it is an empty space.

If you have already done this on your boat, please let me know what you found.

Thanks!

Hi,

I have the same boat as you with the 5.0 instead though. The bottom floor under my deck hatches at the stern is covered with what looks a thin particle board that is painted white. It looks like a thin almost rectangular cover that is screwed down. The particle board area is just under the deck hatches on the port and starboard. The rest of the lower deck floor at the chine up to the helm and port front seating appears to be fiberglass. The starboard particle board cover under the deck hatch on my 2452 was chipping a little and seemed wet. So I pulled it up. It is indeed a thin piece of particle board over unglassed plywood. The area underneath is hollow and appears to be solid glass which is actually the inside of the outer hull. I believe that Bayliner put those "particle board covers" under the rear deck hatches so there would be a flat floor area under the deck hatches. Without those covers, anything that was dropped or stored under the deck hatch would be against the inside of the outer hull. There doesn't seem to be any exposed wood to rot in the cavity. One thing I did notice though. If the scuppers at the stern are clogged, water would collect on the deck and eventually drip down on top of the lower covers eventually turning them to mush. I am not sure if all years of 2452 have those " particle board lower covers. I have seen other earlier 2452 and they do have those covers under the deck hatch. They almost look like a thin covering on the lower deck under the deck hatches to prevent noise from anything that may be stored under the hatches that may move around.

Matt

[BLCarl]

My 98 has them too. I thought to run plumbing or electrical under them but didn't want to bother cutting them open only to find a reason I shouldn't later. I did see some drains under the stringers, I hope they are open. There might be a few more inches of storage under there. Maybe enough that my 2K generator could set upright in there with the covers on. I don't think I'll bother. It would be nice to know anyway. There is another misterious place, under the salon floor center.

[Guest]

Hi Carl,

There are a few more inches of storage with those covers removed. I actually thought of utilizing that space for something myself. If they only made generators with angled bottoms we would be all set.

[Guest]

BLCarl wrote:
My 98 has them too. I thought to run plumbing or electrical under them but didn't want to bother cutting them open only to find a reason I shouldn't later. I did see some drains under the stringers, I hope they are open. There might be a few more inches of storage under there. Maybe enough that my 2K generator could set upright in there with the covers on. I don't think I'll bother. It would be nice to know anyway. There is another misterious place, under the salon floor center.

Under that salon floor center... I had the floor rot there last year because of a mysterious water intrusion issue. I think it wicked down the port firewall down to the floorboard somehow, then saturate the area right next to the head. I excavated the rotten wood and patched in a new piece of ply/glass. Under the area is about a 7" void running from the back of the v-berth under the floor all the way to the firewall. There is drain running from under the refrigerator into this void. The area drains into the forward bilge area under the step via a 2" pvc. If a drain is ever clogged somewhere, the stringers and firewall could easily get soggy!

[Guest]

I went ahead and cut holes in them, and will install 6" deck plates.The material i cut through is 1/2" plywood. It looks like marine grade; it is 5 ply, no voids, clear.There is really not much space under these, and I took a picture that shows there is a drain limber in them, so unless you are experiencing problems, there is really no reason to open them up.

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