1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

[Sarentack]

I am having to do some repair on the flooring in a 88 Bayliner Capri, one concern I got is is when water gets into it, where exactly is the water going?

Does it go below the floor? or does the drain pipe that sets in the middle go to the back in order for the bilge to work?

Can the boat sink due to too much water or can the bilge handle enough weight of the water that is on top heading to the back of the boat by the motor to prevent sinking?

I am not familiar with how this boat is designed and where water can go. I may have to upload some pictures later on to show an idea of what I am dealing with, I the middle part where the water traps are where the side fiberglass is broken out as if a 2x4 was setting there to support the flooring. Theirs the gap around the gas tank as well, I am just not certain where all this water goes.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

Questions...when you remove the bilge drain plug, does it all drain out?... Does your bilge pump come on?... Does it stay on all the time you are in the water?

Pictures would definitely be a big help...

 

[SteveinVA]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

It's a Bayliner, the water can go anywhere, and will

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

Depending on the condition of the flooring and how the boat has been stored, water can go places where it cannot escape. It then feeds the wooden structure of the boat so that it can rot out. Generally there will be stringers and bulkheads under the floor. Primarily made of wood and covered with fiberglass. Between the wood/glass structure there will be flotation foam or components, like fuel tanks.

If water accumulates in a foam compartment, then it can saturate the foam over the course of many years. this would reduce the ability of the boat to stay floating, if it were to become flooded.

Since this boat is a 1988, it has had 25 years for all of these 'wonderful' things to happen. Posting some pictures would help us visualize, but you should also be poking around at the structure to see if there are wet, soft, rotted spots, etc. Boats typically rot from the bottom up, so if the floor is bad, then what is below it may be worse.

 

[Sarentack]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

well the outside of the boat looks pretty solid, no cracking or anything, can see hair lines on the top at the side, but thats it.

 

[Sarentack]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

Here is some more.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

The inside does not look so good. Just putting a new floor on probably is not going to do it. . . Better grab the tools.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

Agreed^^^...
Second thing you need to do, after you first pull up the deck, is to core sample the structure, low and back...

 

[jmmacky]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

Originally drainage was designed so that water could drain through a narrow pipe in the bow anchor locker under the deck. Water then drained between the stringers, under all the bulkheads (through narrow diameter bits of pipe), under the fuel tank and out to the bilge. The problem is that the bits of pipe become blocked with debris over 20+ years. Water then becomes stagnant and sits around the stringers and bulkheads. The porous nature of poly resin means that the water eventually penetrates through the poor quality fibreglass and into the wood structure which then rots from bottom to top. It even corrodes the aluminium fuel tank after a while.

This was the design in my 80's Capri and I imagine it would be the same in yours. The drainage design is bad in my opinion and in conjunction with the poor workmanship leads to rotten boats over a 20 year time period; especially when combined with owners who do not look after them properly.

I agree with tpenfield and GT that core samples are needed. On the plus side there are a lot of experienced and helpful people here to help along with tonnes of information in other threads.

 

[Sarentack]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

The inside does not look so good. Just putting a new floor on probably is not going to do it. . . Better grab the tools.

Ya I dunno, I thought about just doing alot of sealing and adding new floor, but I never worked on flooring before if it be house or boat, so I am not very experienced on how to go about the project.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1988 Bayliner 17 ft questions.

Wishful thinking would say it is OK, but based on the pictures, probably not.

There are many, many threads on this forum that you can view to see how others have fixed their boats. I think it would be best to view a bunch of those forums and then do some 'probing' of the structure on your boat.