water in the floor

i have a 78 searay sundancer 24. recently got it running after 3yrs of not being used. been using it since thanksgiving and it has seen a lot of rain on the water and off. in short, is has had a lot of water sit in the bilge and in the cabin floor at times. with the boat sitting level in the driveway it has moisture that comes up in the carpet in the cabin from what looks like the hole where the table base goes. does anyone know what i can do for this? thanks kevin

Re: water in the floor

kevincave said:

does anyone know what i can do for this? thanks kevin

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lol.....sell it to me !

the searay sundancers are great boats......and have a good resale value.....even a 78...

if the motor and drive are good.....the rest can be dealt with over time and labor.

what needs to be done.....is the floor needs to be ripped out.....under the floor..you will find the frame of the boat....(the stringers)......they are totally rotted....(just trust me.....they are toast).

the back end of the boat is called the transom.....that is more than likely rotten too....it will have to be replaced.

do a search called...."unintentional stringer job".....the guy that wrote that is one of our gurus here and it is a simmelar boat.

i know that you are thinking that you can just dry it out......well sorry....you cant.....it will never dry out, 10 summers in the desert wont do it.....and it will only get worse.

it must be repaired.

take pics ......and we can suggest way of proceding.

cheers
oops

Re: water in the floor

Sounds interesting....... I would concentrate on getting the water out.

Make sure all your plugs are pulled....... use a shop vac if needed but dry it out to establish the next step.

Re: water in the floor

yep...THAT much water..wow..

Pull plugs and get the bow as high as you can..Let her drain.

They have these new fangled things called boat covers, some say its a fad, I think its the wave of the future!

Re: water in the floor

with the boat sitting level in the driveway

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Ayuh,... Don't/ Never park it Level....

Park it nose Up, with the bilge plug removed....

Re: water in the floor

Word of advice froma guy learning the hard way. When the guys on here say let it dry out, its for good reason. Took me forever to remove just a portion of the water soaked foam under the flooring. I didn't listen and thought it would never release the water. Went out one afternoon and the tarp had made a greenhouse of the boat and trapped all the water in it. FOr two days I have been removing the tarp in the morning to let the sun and air get to the foam and its drying out and is proving to be much easier to remove. So, when they say dry it out, it does not always mean a shopvac, sometime the sun can do wonders with this task.

Re: water in the floor

jacked the front up in the driveway sat for a day, ton of water came out..

Re: water in the floor

Dont be too encouraged, there is more under that floor.