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**Guest** · 07-02-2012, 12:57 AM

Why do you think the boat chines sitting on the trailer rollers is contributing to you problem?

**itsabowtime2** · 07-02-2012, 02:49 AM

Do the chines have cracks in them? Water will settle to the lowest area it can pool in. The water may be entering from another location and pooling in those spots. Bellows, thru hulls, rub rail are common areas water gets in from.

**TerryW** · 07-02-2012, 04:17 AM

If you boat in the sea it is useful to taste the pooled water. This will narrow down whether it is sea water ingress or rain water seeping in.

**Guest** · 07-02-2012, 07:11 AM

To reply to a couple of the questions.

I have tasted the water that was coming in while I was on the ocean and it was certainly salty. I am certain this is not rain water or some other fresh water source.

When I had the boat on the water I crawled in the cave with a flash light and watched for about 15 minutes to see if I could see any water coming in. The water I saw beading up was coming on the under side of the chine. I would wipe the water away with a towel and a little bit later some more water would bead up. I don't believe this water was coming from the top of the chine or any location above that.

I hope that helps my reasoning...

**TerryW** · 07-02-2012, 12:46 PM

As ever it is usually best practice to do all the cheap stuff first. Can you check that none of your through-hulls are leaking by isiually inspecting them with the boat out of the water?

I've had hull damage in the past and it usually ends up with the fibreglass getting waterlogged rather than water entering the hull.

**Guest** · 07-02-2012, 05:41 PM

TerryW wrote:
As ever it is usually best practice to do all the cheap stuff first. Can you check that none of your through-hulls are leaking by isiually inspecting them with the boat out of the water?

I've had hull damage in the past and it usually ends up with the fibreglass getting waterlogged rather than water entering the hull.

I will check now about the through-hulls leaking since it is setting on the trailer as we speak.

Somewhere else I read about a crack in the fiberglass possibly causing water to seep down through whole boat and creating water spots long the hull. Is this what you meant by being waterlogged?

**Guest** · 07-02-2012, 06:58 PM

waterlogged means that there is water in the fiberglass layers of the hull (bad). I wouldn't assume the worst. As you have her on the trailer look from underneath whether you can see hairline cracks in the area you suspect to leak. Hope you don't find any.

Most likely it is a very simple source somewhere. Could even be under the rub-rail where top and bottom of your boat are connected together. If water splashes there and there's an opening it will go down the inside. Bayliner isn't known for their quality and workmanship in areas you can't immediately see.......

**TerryW** · 07-03-2012, 11:19 AM

Hi,

If the water tastes salty it should be sea water and coming up through the hull somewhere.

Waterlogging: The hull has an outer shell made of gel coat. Below the gel coat are layers of fibreglass matting. If the outer gel coat gets punctured or scraped away water enters the matting and waterlogs it. My old cathedral hulled dory used to double in weight after a fishing trip. It slowly soaked up sea water (no kidding). This was because of damage to the gel coat along the keel area. It needed a rubbing strake. The old boat was a complete wreck not a nice well built Bayliner. It might be worth just doing a visual inspection of the gel coat to make sure it is sound below the water line. You may find one or two very thin cracks where the hull flexes. These aren't unusual above the water line. Not sure what you do if they are below the water line. NB You would notice waterlogging. With the drain plug removed water pours out for literally weeks. It is more likely a weaping thru hull which is very easily fixed by replacing.

Now, if you have fresh water ingress that is another matter. Rain water gets in all over the place and secretly teleports to inaccessible areas where it pools. Such leaks are quite hard to track down somethimes. My 2452 used to take loads of rain water through every screw fixing and window surround on it. I used Capt Tolly crack cure (look it up on the web) to dose all deck fittings and window surrounds. You dribble it onto the screw/ window surround and it seaps in and goes hard as a rock. The only clever bit is to get any extraneous crack cure off the plastic before it dries. If it dries it needs explosives to remove it.

Terry

**Guest** · 07-03-2012, 12:41 PM

Just two things I would recommend:

1. Determine that the water intrusion is not from salt spray. It appears that the methods you have used to locate the leak indicate that spray is not the culprit. If that's the case, proceed to #2.

2. Hire a marine surveyor to do a complete hull survey for you both in and out of the water. If you have cracks in your hull, a surveyor will find that out quickly and recommend your next course of action.

Sometimes it's just best to bite the bullet and get an expert involved. Peace of mind and all that plus it is just more efficient than spending a lot of time poking around. An expert can resolve the issue quickly and get you on the path to a proper repair.

**Guest** · 07-03-2012, 10:33 PM

telebob wrote:
Just two things I would recommend:

1. Determine that the water intrusion is not from salt spray. It appears that the methods you have used to locate the leak indicate that spray is not the culprit. If that's the case, proceed to #2.

2. Hire a marine surveyor to do a complete hull survey for you both in and out of the water. If you have cracks in your hull, a surveyor will find that out quickly and recommend your next course of action.

Sometimes it's just best to bite the bullet and get an expert involved. Peace of mind and all that plus it is just more efficient than spending a lot of time poking around. An expert can resolve the issue quickly and get you on the path to a proper repair.

This should definitely be inspected by a fibreglass professional. Repairs should be done on both sides of the hull if possible. Either way, it seems to me it will be an expensive job to fix. I'd imagine all the paint would have to be stripped back, gel coat inspected to determine where water intrusion is coming in. This will be the hardest part because he'll be looking for very fine cracks along the whole hull. Maybe it's a good time to strip the paint in it's entirety. Hope it's not as bad as it sounds.

Gary.

**Guest** · 07-05-2012, 09:22 PM

Okay I have been under the boat and took a couple of pictures as shown below. In the one picture you can see where I have a strake (which I previously called a chine) that is pretty badly beaten up. I had a couple of rollers that had rusted out or something and the shaft of the roller scrapped up the strake on the inside (the part facing the center of the boat). The roller looks to have cut up the gelcoat and damaged the fiberglass pretty bad as shown in the one picture. There is a long gash up the full length of the same strake where it looks like the bottom paint is cut and the gelcoat is scapped, but it is not down to the fiberglass. The other picture is an oily looking spot on the hull. I have a number of these around the area where the strake is badly cut up.The rest of the hull looks good with just a little paint being worn off in spots.Do to finances being tight I am hoping to make this repair myself. Even though I realize this is now looking pretty serious, but I don't have the means to take this in and get it professionally fixed. So my questions are with that in mind.1. Assuming my leak has resulted from this main damage, will it be okay to sand this all down and lay a new layer of fiberglass over the top? What else would be recommended?2. There are about five different oily looking spots on the hull around the damage do I need to sand these down as well and do something with them? If so what is recommended?Thanks for the input thus far.Codyp.s. Yes the trailer is being worked on.

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/701153=29426-cody's boat 002.jpg[/img]

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/701153=29427-cody's boat 005.jpg[/img]

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/701153=29428-cody's boat 007.jpg[/img]

**Guest** · 07-05-2012, 09:41 PM

it looks ugly but that shouldn't let water penetrate into the hull....As it looks in the pictures you took off some gel coat and a bit of the fiberglass but the gelcoat isn't the stuff which keeps the water out.

The oily looking spot concerns me. Did you have something inside the boat which attacked the Polyester? Better check the inside whether you can see something there. A good way to find the spot is to hold a strong flashlight to the spot from the outside and search for the light from inside. I assume your arms aren't long enough to do both so you will need some help. If it goes through you may need professional help as it can impact the integrity of the hull (depending on location).

**Guest** · 07-05-2012, 11:14 PM

codybeee wrote:

Do to finances being tight I am hoping to make this repair myself. Even though I realize this is now looking pretty serious, but I don't have the means to take this in and get it professionally fixed. So my questions are with that in mind.

1. Assuming my leak has resulted from this main damage, will it be okay to sand this all down and lay a new layer of fiberglass over the top? What else would be recommended?

2. There are about five different oily looking spots on the hull around the damage do I need to sand these down as well and do something with them? If so what is recommended?

Thanks for the input thus far.

Cody

Sadly, this is not a good project for a general DIY type person with little experience in marine FG repair. While it could be that this area in the middle picture is indeed the ingress point, there may be another or several more. There could be a long crack that you will only get part of sealed, or you may not get a good seal at all. Working with marine FG is a bit of an art. I can't assess your skill level but in my opinion, it would be best to take this to a shop that is competent with FG repairs, and have them do it. Catalyzing the resin to work upside down is also important, and getting a good seal to the hull is important, cure is important, and using the right roving or bidi material is important. Lots of ways for this to go wrong, and then it has to be cut out, and redone. Even small voids in a layer of glass and resin can still leak.

The shop will likely turn it on it's side to work on, or they may leave it and work upside down on the bottom. Once they get it fixed, they will gelcoat it, and then you can test it and if it still leaks, they are on the hook to complete the job. Good luck.

**Guest** · 07-05-2012, 11:43 PM

I'm sorry to say this but your chances of getting this repaired competently without professional help is is very minimal. In fact, it would be shear luck. A few pictures and some questions on the internet are not going to bring about a successful resolution to your problem. A cracked hull on a boat this size and complexity is a serious issue. Any money or effort you spend in attempting a DYI repair is going to be wasted.

You really need to have a professional put eyeballs on that hull, sound it and take moisture readings. The pro will then tell you exactly what needs to be done and what it will cost to fix it.

It's a bitter pill to swallow but boats will break your heart sometimes.

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