MontanaAardvark
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2011
- Messages
- 49
That might be confusing, so how can I tell if my boat's electrical system is involved in the mysterious holes I get in my '05 Starcraft 16 DLX - or if it's just saltwater in the wrong places?
This post is by way of follow up to my previous post about a hole that appeared in my transom over a period of a few months while the boat sat in the garage. The post was in early June in this forum.
I've been wracking my brain over this for 6 weeks, now. I have holes in a couple of areas and only those areas. I have a few holes on both the port and starboard sides of my transom. These are only in the outermost portions (about 1/4 of the width?) and are close to the waterline or online with the deck. There aren't holes in the middle of the transom. I have three or four holes on either side in the forward part of the boat - in front of the side console - but well above the waterline. Instead of being in line with the deck, they're in line with casting platform about a foot above the deck.
http://www.pbase.com/montana_aardvark/image/156579156 Shows holes in the starboard bow, about a foot in front of the side console.
In my mind, since the holes on the bow end aren't near any wiring, the electrical system shouldn't be involved. I can see the ones in the transom possibly being due to a wire getting crimped where it shouldn't be, or a wire that got disconnected or something; but not up on the bow, and especially not on the port bow, around 7 feet from the wiring in the console.
This past weekend, I sanded and prepped all the holes, and then covered/filled them with Marine-Tex (boaters' Bondo). Last weekend, I added a kill switch on the battery to completely disconnect it. The only time current will be flowing in the harness is when I'm on the water.
Aside from pulling the outboard, pulling the transom, and rebuilding it, I'd really like to know if I can fix this. One guy I spoke with just said "get a can of Bondo and chase down the holes as they appear. You'll get tired of it and throw it out before the hull comes apart". A crude approach but possibly right.
That PBase director contains pictures of the boat, the holes, and a comparison photo of the holes about 5 weeks apart. I swear they grew in that time.
Thanks,
Bob
This post is by way of follow up to my previous post about a hole that appeared in my transom over a period of a few months while the boat sat in the garage. The post was in early June in this forum.
I've been wracking my brain over this for 6 weeks, now. I have holes in a couple of areas and only those areas. I have a few holes on both the port and starboard sides of my transom. These are only in the outermost portions (about 1/4 of the width?) and are close to the waterline or online with the deck. There aren't holes in the middle of the transom. I have three or four holes on either side in the forward part of the boat - in front of the side console - but well above the waterline. Instead of being in line with the deck, they're in line with casting platform about a foot above the deck.
http://www.pbase.com/montana_aardvark/image/156579156 Shows holes in the starboard bow, about a foot in front of the side console.
In my mind, since the holes on the bow end aren't near any wiring, the electrical system shouldn't be involved. I can see the ones in the transom possibly being due to a wire getting crimped where it shouldn't be, or a wire that got disconnected or something; but not up on the bow, and especially not on the port bow, around 7 feet from the wiring in the console.
This past weekend, I sanded and prepped all the holes, and then covered/filled them with Marine-Tex (boaters' Bondo). Last weekend, I added a kill switch on the battery to completely disconnect it. The only time current will be flowing in the harness is when I'm on the water.
Aside from pulling the outboard, pulling the transom, and rebuilding it, I'd really like to know if I can fix this. One guy I spoke with just said "get a can of Bondo and chase down the holes as they appear. You'll get tired of it and throw it out before the hull comes apart". A crude approach but possibly right.
That PBase director contains pictures of the boat, the holes, and a comparison photo of the holes about 5 weeks apart. I swear they grew in that time.
Thanks,
Bob