Hello! and... I've got a question!

[fropleyquark]

First of all, hi! And man, am I glad I found this forum. Here's a quick background:

I just (last week) bought a "hardly used" '94 Sundancer 230 with only 50 hours on it. This is my first boat and I've gotta say I'm having a little buyer's remorse. I was pretty excited when I found it due to it's low hours. Story goes that the original owner bought it then died. His family had it up in storage till last May. The guy I bought it from only owned it for a summer and is selling due to relocation.

So, we took it out, everything checked OK and I brought her home. This is where my problems start. We've had a LOT of rain for the past few days and the cabin is absolutle soaked inside. From reading a few posts here I've found that rain leaks can be pretty common. I was just wondering if any of you have had the same problems I am and could point me in the right direction?

My leaks are:

1. Under all 3 cushions in the forward part of the cabin. I think it might be coming in from the anchor storage compartment.

2. I had about an inch of water on the floor in front of the bathroom door. Looks like the water is coming in from under the bathroom stall. I have no idea about this one.

3. The aft cabin matress on the drivers (starboard) side towards the back corner. This one I think is due to old seals where the bow railing bolts down.

I plan on sealing up the anchor storage door real good and replacing all the seals on the bow railing. Is this a good start? Anywhere else to look? I'm pretty sure that the windows arent leaking. Thanks a lot!

-John

 

[H2ONUT]

Welcome!

I would start with the bow rails and anchor locker.

Last year all my leaks were gone after re-sealing the rails.

 

[Quint4]

ditto on sealing the rail stanchions...don't use silicone, get some 3m 5200 or 3m 4200. Any thing that can be unscrewed or unbolted from the deck should get this treatment. Congrats on the boat...don't get discouraged boats = maintenance.

 

[fropleyquark]

ditto on sealing the rail stanchions...don't use silicone, get some 3m 5200 or 3m 4200. Any thing that can be unscrewed or unbolted from the deck should get this treatment. Congrats on the boat...don't get discouraged boats = maintenance.

Whats "3m 5200 or 3m 4200"? I had planned on going down to the local boat shop and ordering some new seals. thanks

 

[fropleyquark]

Nevermind. I know what that is. Duh. How do you recommend applying? Let it dry a little first then tighten? I'm really hoping that it is something as simple as the railing....

 

[JAndrewG]

3M 5200 is much slower to cure than 4200, but has better adhesion. To confuse things further, they make 5200 Fastcure, and 5200 UV, the latter having better resistance to UV light and less tendancy to yellow. Any of the above will work well.

When you take the rail stanchions loose, clean all of the factory installed 'dumb-dumb' off both surfaces, the gel coat and stainless base. It's like plumber's putty. Any good solvent will work to get it squeaky clean once you've scraped off the most of it with a bondo spreader or plastic putty knife.

Put enough sealant on one surface or the other that it squirts out everywhere when you tighten it down. This is the only way to be sure you have a complete seal. Use that putty knife or spreader again to remove most of the excess material. Wipe it on a paper towel as you do. Final cleanup can be done with paper towel and the same solvent you used earlier to clean off the old crud.

When I'm sealing something that is in an area that doesn't show, I like to leave a bead of sealant. Wet your finger with water as you form a bead and the sealant won't stick to it. Water helps cure the above 3M products, so you won't hurt anything at all in doing so.

 

[fropleyquark]

OK, so I got some 3M 4200 and went to pull the railing off. Yeah... all the screws are stripped out. Someone ghetto-rigged a re-seal before me and the only thing holding the screws in is the sealant. So, unless anyone's got a good fix for that, Im taking the boat into the shop tomorrow. This just keeps getting worse...

 

[JAndrewG]

John,

Don't panic, it's not that bad...

If you have access below, then the good fix would be to get equivalent sized stainless machine screws and nylock nuts. You'd simply drill out the holes a bit and through bolt it.

If not, the only other fix is to again drill out the holes so the sealant is cleaned out of them, and then fill the holes back up with fiberglass resin. You can mix regular polyester resin and thicken it with sawdust, or use one of the epoxy resins, like West System, and one of their powders to thicken it. West System makes small syringes for projects like this, or you can use a turkey baster to get the resin in the holes.

Once the resin has cured hard, you drill the holes back to the correct size for your screws, use your 4200 sealant, and tighten it down.

If stripped screws in fiberglass ruined a boat, most of us would have had to throw ours out a long time ago!

What I described above is all your shop would do. If you like to work with your hands it's easy, and you'll know it's done well if you do it yourself. You'll save some money to boot...

 

[fropleyquark]

Hey, I appreciate all the help guys. It's not that I think its the end of the world. I know its a relatively easy fix. I've been a "do-it-yourselfer" Jeep mechanic for years now. Not the best but can usually tackle anything. It's really just principle. I bought what was supposed to be a "like-new" boat. I just hate all these surprises on something I paid so much for. I know a little TLC will go a long way but its just a little frustrating right now. I think Im going to take her in and have them do a thorough inspection while its there. (Something I should have done prior to buying it). O well, you live and you learn...

 

[Turtlesboat]

Even when you have it gone over pre-purchase, you'll still find a million little things to work on. Then you'll break a million things and have to fix those too. Basically you'll always have something to do while you own a boat.

 

[comsnark]

Yeah, this is par for the course. The key is sealing the water leaks.
You want to do as much as possible yourself. . .otherwise this boat is going to cost three fourtunes.

What shape are the engines in?

 

[rondds]

wait a minute! are you saying that the bowrail stancions are NOT thru-bolted? self tappers into fiberglass? i have a welded bowrail and the stancion is welded from beneath onto a deckplate which is thru-bolted with an aluminum backing plate. i've had to replace 3 of these b/c the weld failed at the stancion-deckplate interface. luckily, in each instance, 've been able to get to the backing plate from underneath. i have a 4th on it's way out but this one i CANNOT get to (behind the molded shower stall). i figured i'd cut the heads off the bolts, let the shank and the nut (and backing plate) drop in to the nether-regions of the boat, and replace the thing with another one of these babies...

i was wondering if selftappers would work. are you all saying they will???

 

[JAndrewG]

Even when you have it gone over pre-purchase, you'll still find a million little things to work on. Then you'll break a million things and have to fix those too. Basically you'll always have something to do while you own a boat.

Amen to that...

 

[JAndrewG]

wait a minute! are you saying that the bowrail stancions are NOT thru-bolted? self tappers into fiberglass? i have a welded bowrail and the stancion is welded from beneath onto a deckplate which is thru-bolted with an aluminum backing plate. i've had to replace 3 of these b/c the weld failed at the stancion-deckplate interface. luckily, in each instance, 've been able to get to the backing plate from underneath. i have a 4th on it's way out but this one i CANNOT get to (behind the molded shower stall). i figured i'd cut the heads off the bolts, let the shank and the nut (and backing plate) drop in to the nether-regions of the boat, and replace the thing with another one of these babies...

i was wondering if selftappers would work. are you all saying they will???

Ron,

No, no, I don't like the idea of screws into fiberglass for the rail; it's just what he had and I don't know if access underneath is possible.

On your boat, before you cut the heads off those bolts, try once more to find access. In mine, the bottom of the storage shelf in the head (behind the plex sliding 'doors') is removable, and though it's no fun at all, you can access everything behind the fiberglass enclosure, including the rail bolts, from there.

If you gotta use screws, you might put them in while the resin is still wet. Swab 'em up real good so you know the threads are completely covered. When it cures it will be as though you threaded the resin with a tap.