New Member, New Boater, Old Boat. Bad Fiberglass in Bilge?

[Cpl Killington]

Hello iboats community!!

I have been lurking around for about a month now since purchasing this boat, I have googled and used this forum to help me get this boat ready for water, but I have run into a brick wall. Here is a little back story:

​Recently acquired a 17' 1975 Rinkerbuilt Raider 5 with a 120 hp Mercruiser from my neighbor, its a beautiful shade of orange similar to the General Lee. The boat was said to only have been used for a few seasons before being put into a dry climate controlled storage for the past 30 or so years. It appears to be in great shape mechanically and electronically. After a bit of maintenance (distributor rebuild, new plugs, impeller, fluids and filters changed, gaskets replaced) it fired right up with a set of muffs on the grills.

While cleaning out the bilge area I noticed a small hole and what seems to be bad fiberglass seam. This is in the back on the passenger side,


This one is in the back on the drivers side


Now are these a potential cause for concern? Is it time to pull out the fiberglass tools?

Any insight on this issue would be very much appreciated.

 

[kcassells]

Yup...worth a drill investigation. Run a drill in with a 1/4" bit see if it comes out dust/powder or wood spurs. That long in hibernation would be a good reason to check it out. Another route might be to get a tool in there, remove the bad glass and inspect the wood that way. Cause you'll need to glass it back up anyway.
Pretty Boat! Welcome aboard DRYDOCK, Lot's of good guys here will chirp in.

 

[jigngrub]

That hole looks like a rodents foyer. Maybe put out a few pellets of poison and see if any come up missing, if you don't have any action go ahead and seal everything back up. For that small hole I'd just pick up a small automotive patch kit from walmart and a rattle can of touch-up in the closest color.

 

[Cpl Killington]

Awesome, thank you guys very much. I haven't had much experience with fiberglass repairs so I might just keep those repair pictures to myself haha

 

[gm280]

I'd say there really is no way for us to tell without further pictures. And I think you at least should do further investigation with drilling sample holes with the drill to see if you have any rot. Because rot NEVER heals itself, but continues until everything is gone to mush. If you drill sample holes around those questionable areas and they all come up dry shavings or wood shavings, then yes seal them up and happy boating. But if you see dark colored wood or wet shavings, you have to repair it now... And that repair can be really simple, or totally involved depending on how far the rot has spread... JMHO!

 

[Cpl Killington]

I definitely will drill a few holes and see what comes out, I already replaced the 3.5" motor mount lags with 4.5" stainless lags. There was little rot in that area and when I drilled the holes to 1/2 inch I hit good wood before pouring in thinned out marine epoxy and dropping in a 3/8 dowel covered in thick marine epoxy. I used a little bit of 5200 are the very top of the bolt for a seal. I am just about out of daylight here, I will drill some holes tomorrow and post my findings. Thank you all again for your help

 

[Ned L]

Ahh,.... Not saying you shouldn't check to see that the wood is solid, but to me those areas look like nothing more than 'typical' (somewhat sloppy) draping and fitting of the matt and cloth during the hull layup process. Nothing to be concerned about (as long as the wood behind it is sealed).
.... Or at least that's what I am seeing it as.

 

[jigngrub]

I definitely will drill a few holes and see what comes out, I already replaced the 3.5" motor mount lags with 4.5" stainless lags. There was little rot in that area and when I drilled the holes to 1/2 inch I hit good wood before pouring in thinned out marine epoxy and dropping in a 3/8 dowel covered in thick marine epoxy. I used a little bit of 5200 are the very top of the bolt for a seal. I am just about out of daylight here, I will drill some holes tomorrow and post my findings. Thank you all again for your help

From what I can see in the pics, the boat and trailer look great and if it has been indeed stored in an indoor dry climate controlled area you shouldn't have any rot worries.

It's pretty easy to tell when a boat has been well taken care of and when one has been neglected and exposed to the elements. Boats exposed to the elements are the ones with rusty trailers, weathered interiors, and oxidized paint jobs... your boat doesn't look like that. To keep your boat in great shape, store it on the trailer and covered to protect it from the elements when not in use and it'll last a very long time.

 

[Cpl Killington]

Ahh,.... Not saying you shouldn't check to see that the wood is solid, but to me those areas look like nothing more than 'typical' (somewhat sloppy) draping and fitting of the matt and cloth during the hull layup process. Nothing to be concerned about (as long as the wood behind it is sealed).
.... Or at least that's what I am seeing it as.

That as my first impression, figured someone came back from a wet lunch and figured no one would notice the shotty glasswork since it is under the engine :facepalm:
Guess I am going to add a new skill to the tool box by weeks end. Found another cavern just under the bilge pump, this was taken at an angle looking into the overhang, the bottom is solid clear resin. Going to run an industrial fan in the engine compartment for a day or so to dry up any thing that may have gotten in there. any other methods of extracting moisture that I could use before glassing over these holes?

 

[jigngrub]

A fan or small electric space heater with a built in fan is about as good as it get in that dept. Running either one for as long as you can will work the best, don't try to rush it.

 

[Cpl Killington]

Awesome, thanks for the solid advice

 

[Cpl Killington]

No Title

I drilled a few hole in the problem areas and everything looked solid. I am guessing a lot of the cracks formed while in storage with no water damage being present. I fiberglassed the majority of the bilge area for good measure, and even with my lack of exp with doing fiberglass repair it looks pretty good so far. I had to remove the back passenger seat on the port side and noticed that the previous owner cut a hole under the seat and filled it with foam. Being new to boats and all I was wondering if this is normal or should I remove some foam and fit a good piece of plywood into the cut out and fiberglass over?

 

[Cpl Killington]

I am just curious if these exposed foam areas could potentially become a problem and if I should seal them with ply and glass. I just hate the idea of water getting inside of these compartments and soaking in.