1987 Sea Ray Express 390

[jrmcginn1]

Hi Everyone,

Rob McGinn of Thunder Bay Ontario Canada here.
I have owned the above boat since 1996 and I think the problem with the fresh or potable water tank has been inherent in this boat for a long time..

A 100 USA gal very thin aluminium tank for potable water resides enclosed under the salon floor... 73x11x30 inches, poorly secured to the fibre galssed floor with out any sealant using wood screws holding brackets.etc etc
The tank leaked and filled the entire area under it with water.
We have torn out the floor where the tank sat and also all foam which was saturated, having imbibed water for some years....
I now find that the lateral compartments are also full of water and foam ...Only way to drain and dry is to remove all salon furniture and the floor plus the roof over these foam filled compartments and take out the saturate foam and rebuild the entire salon and staterooms etc ..ie anything ahead of the engine room bulkhead.
Has anyone ever had this trouble?

I think the boat is just short of write- off status!
Rob McGinn

 

[RollerCoastr]

Both of my neighbors have gone through that. One of them, I think is an '86, suffered compromised stringers and has been out of the water 2 seasons. I spoke with the owners son recently, and he said she's about ready to splash.

The other is an '88. The owner took up the floor and replaced it with wood flooring. He also installed a new fridge and re-trimmed. It looks great. I don't remember him saying that he had to do much "rebuilding", but I'll ask him. I remember a story about him forgetting that his steps were out and then falling into the boat while he was alone and in winter storage, but both he and the boat survived the ordeal.

 

[velooce]

I would talk with Flood and water intrusion contractors, some have de-humidifying mats which can seal off a compartment to remove water. I also see that some fiberglass bottom repair places are also using this technique to dry blistered bottoms. Of course this is assuming that there is no rot just recent water intrusion.

 

[tobnpr]

Really sorry to hear about the problem.
I have an '85 purchased two years ago. The PO had already replaced the water tank with a plastic one (and the fuel tanks as well) so I escaped those problems.
I used to have a small amount of standing water in that compartment that I couldn't get rid of, but finally determined it was from leakage around the helm area that was running along the engine room bulkhead and then down by the tank.

I don't see how the leaking tank could get water into the port and stbd "lateral" compartments; the stringers separate them from the center compartment and there are no limber holes. But, I wouldn't say write-off. While it's not a job I would relish doing, disassembling the interior cabinetry to pull the floor wouldn't be too hard a job, just time consuming. Big question is whether there's any rot in the stringers from the trapped water, but you can't know the answer to that without pulling the plywood floor and removing the saturated foam.
And I'd look for another possible source of the leakage into the side compartments before completing the repairs.
I think Frank W. had this problem when he owned a 390- you might pm him to tap his knowledge on this.