adding access hatches to Islander (tracking down a leak)

[jimmwaller]

Hi all,

So. I have a leak in my Islander (late 60s), and I can't tell where it's coming from. I have inspected every single rivet on the bottom of this boat and none of them "appear" to be loose or anything, and I've tried everything I can think of to track it down.

It appears that I should have access ports on my deck to help with this kind of thing (as well as just generally to do things like inspect the gas tank, etc.) but I don't have any hatches. I think I may need to add some or at least one. If this feasible? Is this a weekend project, or something much more intense? I'm imagining that I could just, like, take out the steps or something and add a hatch there with minimal disruption, but is that a pipe dream?

Really looking for advice on whether this is feasible, how I should go about doing it, etc. I have intermediate carpentry skills and own most tools, so I'm not afraid of doing it or anything, but my plans are completely different if it involves ripping up the whole floor vs. just carefully cutting out a section or just adding it on the stairs or something.

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

 

[Watermann]

Most times the keel seam is what leaks in these boats if there's no obvious damaged rivets. Finding a leaking rivet from the inside of boat through a hole in the deck would be the worst unless you knew it was right below the hole your making.

Have you leak tested the boat by adding some water to the inside while on the trailer to see where it drips out?

 

[classiccat]

Is it an I/O or O/B Model? How much water is coming in?

IMO, Adding access ports at this point would be taking a shot in the dark. +1 on adding water while on the trailer...just enough to fill most of the bottom rivets and use the jack to shift water to different locations.

 

[Alecapone]

2 years. You are going to make an access hole then find out your foam is saturated. Next thing you know, your boat is gutted.

 

[jimmwaller]

Most times the keel seam is what leaks in these boats if there's no obvious damaged rivets. Finding a leaking rivet from the inside of boat through a hole in the deck would be the worst unless you knew it was right below the hole your making.

Have you leak tested the boat by adding some water to the inside while on the trailer to see where it drips out?

Thanks. The one thing I know (I mean... "know" is strong because there have been plenty of times with this boat that I've "known" something 100% and had strong evidence and been totally wrong, ha!) is that it's not the keel. I have the leak narrowed down to somewhere fore of the doghouse hinges and aft of the stairs, because I can see the hull in those places.

On my boat, there's a big block of wood under the floor just for of the doghouse cutout, so I can see the hull under and around the engine but I can't see anything towards the bow from there because it's blocked off. Same kind of deal in the bow, I can see most of the hull under the seats but I lose sternward vision right around the cabin door. When the boat is in the water, I can see a trickle of water dripping down into my bilge, and I've tried a few times to squeeze my phone under the deck from the doghouse cutout, and I am pretty sure that the trickle of water is coming from the starboard side (so not the keel). There are, of course, a lot of factors at play (now that I'm thinking about it as I'm typing this, I guess that keel could be leaking and then it could be pooling up further up in the boat and then spilling over on the starboard side or something).

I had actually asked a few months back about trying to track down this leak and was told not to do the water-in-the-boat test. Is that actually a valid test? I'm not sure how the keel on these boats is constructed, will the water definitely come out right where the leak is happening?

Thanks!!

 

[jimmwaller]

Is it an I/O or O/B Model? How much water is coming in?

IMO, Adding access ports at this point would be taking a shot in the dark. +1 on adding water while on the trailer...just enough to fill most of the bottom rivets and use the jack to shift water to different locations.

Yeah, sorry! It's an I/O. I gave a better description of where I think I see water coming in above, but it's an I/O.

I would say that this is not a minor leak. I get a pretty solid, pretty consistent dribble of water. Just based on rough calculations with seeing how much water drains out of the drain plug, I'm guessing that I get a few (5?) gallons per hour or something like that. Important to note that I had posted about a major leak (like 100 gallons per hour) a few months back, so if anyone remembers that post, this is a totally different issue. That one was a leaky bellow and has been fixed so now I just have this much, much smaller leak to deal with.

If you happen to know the answer (or anyone)... when you say "fill the keel with enough to cover the bottom rivets)... how much water are we talking? My boat is in dry storage and I don't have a water source. There's a wash station nearby that I could use, but it's pretty expensive (like, over $1/minute) so if we're talking 20 gallons, fine, but I just don't want to waste $100 on water or anything.

Thanks!

 

[jimmwaller]

2 years. You are going to make an access hole then find out your foam is saturated. Next thing you know, your boat is gutted.

oh man, that's the fear! Or, more likely, somehow tracking down this leak somehow turns into a new engine or something... hmm... I've always wanted an outboard starcraft.....

 

[jimmwaller]

well, I found the leak, and the bad news is that it's a crack in the hull. I'm going to start a thread in the Hull forum, as I think this isn't a starcraft-specific question and I will need all the input on aluminum repair I can get. Thanks to all who have answered!