Water in hull Carolina Skiff

mpsyamaha

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
395
I have a friend with a 16 ft carolina skiff classic (98 model i believe) that has water in the hull. There is no hull drain anywhere so we drilled a hole in the bilge area. Very little water came out, but its obvious the foam is wet and the boat is very heavy.

What can you do in this situation? I was thinking he should drill the hole out bigger to a 1" diameter and install a hull drain with a plug and then leave the boat out of the water for a while. Is there anything else we can do to get the water out?

Anyone have experience with Carolina skiffs getting water logged?
 

Home Cookin'

Fleet Admiral
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
9,715
Re: Water in hull Carolina Skiff

I have a 19' c. 1996. We looked at this when we got a chip on a chine and thought water might be getting in.
The problem with installing a drain plug is that the boat has baffles running abeam (from side to side) every 4 inches, so you would only be draining the last section. That's assuming the baffles are waterproof, which was my impression from the design info. That also suggests that it would be hard for the whole inner hull to be waterlogged--like the Titanic's hull sections, only the compromised section would flood. Oops, bad analogy....
We decided after all that it wasn't waterlogged but was sluggish due to prop pitch. But we did get drips out of the chines.
So check the chines for holes and drips, and let it drain out there, then seal.
Call the manufacturer for suggestions.
What makes you think it's got water in it in the first place, other than the bilge area? Does yours have a bilge cavity cut out (mine doesn't)? Are there unsealed holes in the deck? You might have water just in the last section.
 

southtexas

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
137
Re: Water in hull Carolina Skiff

just out of curiosity, why is it obvious that the foam is wet and boat is heavy?

I've read on here where people suggest to get the boat weighed on a truck scale (obviously, you'd subtract weight of trailer, motor, etc to get hull weight).

If it does weigh heavy, then your buddy has a big problem.
 
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