Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

[texanaustinite]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

... Also your boat is now 11 years old and I suspect that water has been in there for some time. It does not take but a matter of months for rot to get a good foothold. ...

Wouldn't the water have a yellowish/brownish color to it?

I know...just needling.
I was hoping for a better follow-up / come-back.

PS - hope I have good credit - that's two quotes used!

Keep quoting. I'll keep charging. Gotta pay for this fix somehow!?!

 

[oops!]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Don't mean to pile on here but that water did not accumulate from exposure to any rain. Also your boat is now 11 years old and I suspect that water has been in there for some time. It does not take but a matter of months for rot to get a good foothold.

I sure hope that Regal is able to shed some light on this mystery. They should know exactly what surrounds the void that the water has accumulated in and how the water most likely got there.

wize is totally correct......this is cause for alarm

Wouldn't the water have a yellowish/brownish color to it?

no.....not nessarily. i could be a gellcoat encapsulated void......the sediment from the water could have setteled..... the other thing is.....there is a lot more water in there......youve only drained to the top of the hole......even if you bow up.....there will still be some water in there.....it needs to be dryed out......but as allready stated....it looks like the area is in the motor mount section.......

this section is made differently by each manufacturer.....
some use angle iron attached to the beefed up stringers......the most common is just to cut some peices of plywood and shove them in thereon the flat and glass them over.....im assuming this is the case in your situation.....the plywood some times doesnt go all the way to the transom.....thats the void area......that means water is intruding into the actual motor mounts.......the wood will rot....the plywood will become a sponge....from there the stringers, foam, and transom will be infected.

if not fixed now......in a few years you'll be back in this forum with a "project"

if the manufacturer wont help you.....and you choose to fix it righ away.....we can walk you right thru the repairs....there is enough talent on this site to have you happy in a jiffy

cheers
oops

 

[Zetman]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Is your battery back there? Wait you said you tasted the leaking water..any burning?

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Oh boy, better get an oncology consult.

 

[204 Escape]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

I guess that if you had someone hold a flashlight, and shine it over the hole, while you looked on the inside wouldn't work ??

 

[Mark42]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

If it were my boat, at this point I would take a 2" hole saw and cut in enough to remove a nice 2" piece of the fiberglass. Then inspect the wood, look at the void, if any, etc. Make any repaires needed. If it is all drained out and can be dried, then epoxy the 2" piece back in place.

 

[oops!]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

......204............no....i dont think so....the void area is (i think) between the motor mount and the stringer.......and that area is closed with glass

 

[oops!]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

If it were my boat, at this point I would take a 2" hole saw and cut in enough to remove a nice 2" piece of the fiberglass. Then inspect the wood, look at the void, if any, etc. Make any repaires needed. If it is all drained out and can be dried, then epoxy the 2" piece back in place.

i was talking about this to a builder the other night and he said the same thing.........except for smaller holes.........

the only thing is......where did the water come from??????

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Since this thread has replaced the other one when it was moved here I'll repost.

I've seen this many times before, even on my boats, drill a hole in the transom and water drains out. There can easily be gaps between the plywood and F/G in the transom and there can be voids in the stringers or other supports for the motor. Without knowing how deep he drilled before he hit water, it's hard to say where exactly it was trapped. There is no good way to dry it out, the amount of air flow you could get through any small holes would be so limited that it would take a very long time.

I doubt Regal will have any idea where it came from, or why, voids aren't designed into the transom and neither are leaks, plus they won't even have a pic to look at.

More holes need to be drilled, because like what's already been said, its only been drained down to the level of the hole, below that point is still full of water.

Drill a small hole below it, do it very slowly and check for water every 1/8 inch, then report how deep you drilled to find water.

 

[ccarver]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

ah... just throw some good ol' duct tape on it... should patch it right up.. lol just kidding... but my dad uses stuff called "metal mend" or somthing like that, we use it on our oil tanks when the bottom gets a hole... you pretty much take 1:1 ratio of each clay bar they give you, mix it up, and put it on. sands up and paints rather nice!

 

[wewefirex2x]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Texan, Have you heard anything on the boat???

 

[texanaustinite]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Drill a small hole below it, do it very slowly and check for water every 1/8 inch, then report how deep you drilled to find water.

When I drilled the bottom hole for the support pole, I did just that and a water poured out only when I went clear through. None of the dust and filings were wet.

Texan, Have you heard anything on the boat???

Didn't get a response via e-mail (they're having trouble with their website) so I called Regal directly. Spoke with one the service managers, Chuck. As "ondarvr" posted, he has no idea why water would be in there, but doesn't think it has been in there very long since it was clear. Needless to say, he wasn't too concerned about it.

I forgot to ask about the warranty when I spoke with him this morning, so I just called back, but they are closed. I did speak with the receptionist and she says that it covers the hull and support structures against any manufacture defect. I'm calling back to speak with Chuck tomorrow, but I don't expect to get anywhere.

Aside from taking it in to a shop, what can I do? Start cutting out holes from above to inspect? I'm willing to try, so long as I can seal it back up...

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

That's a very good sign, having dry wood and needing to go all the way through, at least you know it's in an area that's somewhat sealed off from the transom. I don't think this would be covered by any hull warranty, they cover the hull structurally and this would be a leak from above.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Dang... a water cored transom. I wish I'd thought of that.

If you don't want to fix it, just add some refrigeration gear to the boat... freeze it solid It would never rot, be self repairing, and you'd always have cold beer


Seriously, keep us posted on what happens.

If I were you I'd either take it to a good marine shop for a check up (if you have one you trust) or else carefully start disassembling the back of your boat so you can perform drill tests and find out where that water's collecting and coming in.

Erik

 

[texanaustinite]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

I'll keep y'all posted. Going to Cali. for a few days with the wife. Be back late Sunday...

 

[Driven1]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

I know you won't see this 'til Sunday at the least but thought I'd toss in a possibility.

The hole may be positioned just to the right of a stringer, or as someone else mentioned, at the end of a hollow stringer that's sealed to the transom and was not provided a way to drain to the bilge. Water from topside may have made it's way down into this area through a crack or hole in the floor, or another area somewhere, and gotten trapped there. That could be the reason that the water was clear and not dirty or "rotten" looking. There were some areas in my boat that definately trapped and held water. The water trapped in those areas was crystal clear too. There was absolutely no way for these areas to drain into the bilge either. I'll be attending to that little engineering faux pas as I continue my restore. It seems that some manufacturers think that water will NEVER get below deck in their design phase.

You might want to see if Regal can (or would) supply you with a drawing outlining the assembly of the stringers, bulkheads, and transom, as well as showing any provisions they've made for drainage of these areas. This would show you if there's a possibility of water entrapment in various areas under the deck.

Good luck!

 

[j_martin]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Damn, I hate it when they do that.

You hit a void that's supposed to be dry. It'll find any soft spots in the glass and get into all the wood in time. If there's foam in the void, it needs to be cleaned out and replaced. Not a fun job, but not really too difficult. Don't do it through the transom, go through the floor.

I don't know where you live, but if the boat freezes in the winter, you would be amazed at the damage that kind of water can do.

Don't expect any meaningful diagrams from Regal. The guy that built it has retired, and it's past warranty.

been there, done that.

 

[salty87]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

with a '97 chances are decent that there's no wood, at least good enough to hope for. that doesn't exactly get rid of your problem though.

tilt her up really, really high and drain her out : )

 

[texanaustinite]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

with a '97 chances are decent that there's no wood, at least good enough to hope for. that doesn't exactly get rid of your problem though.

tilt her up really, really high and drain her out : )

There is wood in there. When I drilled on the other side of the transom, I hit one of the stringers. There was wood on the drill bit... DRY wood.

I'm going to cut into the top of the voids (both sides) and see what I find. Then I'll seal it back up or just close it and keep an eye on it for the next time I get caught in the rain.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Water Leaking Out!?! What Did I Hit!?!

Dang... a water cored transom. I wish I'd thought of that.
Erik

Good one.
Ships have this feature.
They are called ballast tanks.
Guess he won't have to worry about listing (assuming the other side has water in it too).