Mid cabin limber holes
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:07 pm
So, I've posted about this before and so has Todd Pote. The 3" fiberglass limber holes are a MAJOR weak point in the stringer system. I would strongly suggest cutting away what's left of the sealant and knocking out the tubes with a hammer. When I read Todd's original post a few years ago, I removed the two inboard ones in front of the bulkhead. The wood was wet but solid and I reinstalled them and ran 4000 around the outside. I did the same for the two rearmost/inner ones and same story.... a little wet but solid.
I decided it was time to check the other ones but was less concerned about ones higher up in the bilge, meaning the more outboard stringers. I checked the one on each side near the mufflers. One side ok but the other was totally rotted. I just did a roughly 10"x10" plywood/epoxy repair on the port side. I'm going to check the rest pretty aggressively now that I've seen rot first hand. My other observation and repair has been:
1) check each intersection where the main stringers connect to the bulkhead and transom. I found voids on a few which let water get behind the stringer further compounding the issue. I cleaned up these areas really well and then used thickened epoxy to build a "dam" so that water can't sit there anymore.
2) Make sure your intake vent hoses are intact and draining past the stringer next to the gas tanks. If not, you're funneling water into an area which might stay trapped there.
If you catch these in time and can seal the wood with epoxy, you'll be in good shape. As an aside, I had a long conversation with a guy at west systems today. Despite some of the rumors around, wet/rotted wood can't get any worse as long as the leak source is fixed and there's no oxygen. It also has to be over 50 degrees so northern boats effectively have no damage occurring in the off season. The good news is the stringers are pretty robust so a little bit of rot isn't fatal. The concern would be what's under the engines so you need to stop any water from getting to begin with by keeping a dry bilge.
Bob
I decided it was time to check the other ones but was less concerned about ones higher up in the bilge, meaning the more outboard stringers. I checked the one on each side near the mufflers. One side ok but the other was totally rotted. I just did a roughly 10"x10" plywood/epoxy repair on the port side. I'm going to check the rest pretty aggressively now that I've seen rot first hand. My other observation and repair has been:
1) check each intersection where the main stringers connect to the bulkhead and transom. I found voids on a few which let water get behind the stringer further compounding the issue. I cleaned up these areas really well and then used thickened epoxy to build a "dam" so that water can't sit there anymore.
2) Make sure your intake vent hoses are intact and draining past the stringer next to the gas tanks. If not, you're funneling water into an area which might stay trapped there.
If you catch these in time and can seal the wood with epoxy, you'll be in good shape. As an aside, I had a long conversation with a guy at west systems today. Despite some of the rumors around, wet/rotted wood can't get any worse as long as the leak source is fixed and there's no oxygen. It also has to be over 50 degrees so northern boats effectively have no damage occurring in the off season. The good news is the stringers are pretty robust so a little bit of rot isn't fatal. The concern would be what's under the engines so you need to stop any water from getting to begin with by keeping a dry bilge.
Bob
