Water in hull

[Superflie]

Hello all, my name is Adam and I'm a newbie. Haha I just bought this boat at a storage place auction. It's a 15' cathedral hull AMF Fiberglas boat. I rebuilt the lower part of the engine and changed the fluids. Replaced and fix the cable pulley steering system so it works now. Rewired the whole boat and replaced the battery and the fuel tank. I'm in the process of revealing the few wood parts and recovering the seats. The problem is, I can hear water in the hull when I lift it. (Not a little bit, a lot)There is no access to the inside of the hull. The bilge looks like it been repaired badly but i tilted the boat up on the trailer and it did not drain. I see a patch on the underside of the hull but that's it. What are your suggestions on getting that water put? I was thinking of cutting a 3x3 square in the deck under the bow and siphoning it out, or drilling into the hull underneath, small hole on each side to let it drain. I'm new to boats so I don't know the repercussions of each. Please help!! Adam

 

[52FordF2]

We need pic's of all areas of repair. Is there any access port in the floor or a bilge type area? There may be a bilge pump under the deck not working. Is there any factory like exit ports in hull that may show an area that the pump may be in. Like I said we need Pics. You may need to open a photo bucket account to post pic though. It sound like it is an Outboard motor for this boat. Other wiser heads will show up. Do not cut into hull from bottom, if any, a small access hole inside near the rear (Aft, Stern) would be better.

 

[Rickmerrill]

Well Super, go get a bullet to bite down on before you read any further, a good stiff drink if you're so inclined cause you're going to get some bad news.. There is wood down there, probably covered with fiberglass. But with that much water down there, by now (it probably started a long time ago) the water has found it's way into some or all of that wood. This would include your deck, stringers, bulkheads and probably transom. The only way to know how bad it is is to start removing the deck and take a look see. I expect you'll find lots of soggy flotation foam and wet and rotted wood. Did you get all if the paperwork for the boat (motor and trailer too in some states), it can be difficult to register it in many states without it. It brings me no joy saying this to you but if you are up to restoring your boat you can get all of the info you need right here.

 

[Barramundi NQ]

Can you check that your not listening to your fuel tank? assuming you have an inboard tank of course.

 

[Rickmerrill]

Good thought Bar, hadn't thought about that.

 

[Superflie]

I'm sorry I didn't list it. This is an outboard motor and the gas tank is one of the red removable deals. When I lift and drop the trailer I can hear the water but i can hear the splash stop about halfway back. Almost like that's as far as it's hollow. I'll try to get some pics up

 

[Superflie]

Oh and sorry it's a 1971 CMF fiberglass outboard boat

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

You've bought a full blown rebuild project. If you're not up to doing a total rebuild then you should probably at least make out ok by selling the engine and trailer.

 

[Woodonglass]

Your under deck configuration probably looks something similar to this...


Since you can hear the water sloshing around I seriously doubt you have any foam under the deck. You may have a bulkhead at the midway point. Is there a ski locker? Pics of the interior of your boat would greatly help us to help you. As the diagram shows if you would drill to holes on either side of the bilge you could easily drain the water from the boat. However as stated, if it's been there for an extended period of time it could have done some damage to the stringers and the bulkheads. Any idea as to the year of the the boat. I know some of the vintage AMF's used fiberglass stringers and you may be one of the lucky ones.

 

[jigngrub]

Posting pics of your boat will help us help you better.

We had another thread on this very same subject not too long ago, I wish I could find it but the search function on this forum is less than desirable right now.

What it boiled down to was that persons boat was equipped with a deck drain and not a bilge drain, I suspect your boat is the same design. The person he bought the boat from had drilled holes in the deck for mounting stuff over the years and water entered through the holes to the below deck area. Since there wasn't a drain through the transom for the bilge the water was trapped. He ended up drilling 3" diameter holes through the decking so he could suck the water out with a shop vac and then installed a bilge drain through the transom.

Like WOG stated, since it's sounds like your water stops half way back you probably have a bulkhead keeping the water from draining all the way back to the transom.

So, you have 2 options:
1. Drill large holes in your deck in the area you suspect that's holding water and have a look-see, then pump out the water and try to patch the holes... or

2. Go ahead and remove your decking and fix the problem completely.