Water in bilge pump screw holes

[pbtodd]

I have a Monterey 262 cruiser and noticed the screws holding the bilge pumps were not sealed with anything. So I removed all of the screws holding both bilge pumps as I was planning to re-seal the screws with 5200 and that's when I discovered two different old screw holes had not been sealed and still had the through hole exposed, probably from an old bilge pump. Dang! I drilled a 1/4" hole through the screw hole and discovered a lot of water below the bilge. Not a big surprise I guess. There is a cavity below the bilge floor and that's where the water was. Does anyone know if the cavity is glassed in? Any suggestions on how to dry it out? I blew compressed air through the holes and got most of the water out but is still very wet.

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

My boat is much smaller than yours but the piece of wood that the bilge attaches to is glued directly to the hull and being the lowest part of the boat (if I'm correct) there will be glass under it. With the wood being encapsulated like that and it's location i doubt it will dry out especially resealing the holes.
On my boat it was a stand alone item meaning not connected to anything else made of wood. From my project I have learned that to get wood to dry on a boat you need to replace it but in your case you may not need to worry about it because it is just for the pump.

 

[todhunter]

Agree with above post. On mine it is just a block of mahogany glassed to the hull, with no other wood around it.

 

[pbtodd]

Ok, thanks for your replies. That's good news to hear. Sounds like it is not that big of a deal then.

 

[tpenfield]

It is a fastener pad . . . otherwise you'd be drilling through the hull.
The bottom of your bilge it the 'top side' of the hull.

If the fastener pad was wet inside, then take your shop vac to it and pull the water out. If it is a wood core, it will probably rot or has rotted. If it is s synthetic core (HDPE perhaps ?) then it should be fine.

 

[pbtodd]

Yeah, it's a wood core and drilled all of the holes a little bigger. Two of them had really dark particles, think that's dry rot? Was planning to seal all of the holes with 6-ten. Thinking that should keep the air out so the rot fungus won't spread or at least slow it down?

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

You can seal the old holes and add sealant to the holes installing the pump. It is not a structural item and is not connected to othe wood so rot won't spread. In my boat the PO just used screws long enough and course enough to bight the topmost fiberglass because as previously stated your hull is underneath and you don't want to penetrate that oj and use SS hardware incase you didn't know.