Just found rot in my 1989 searay 230cc help with core samples And moulded floor

[Restoration man]

Hi there I'm fom the uk and I've just found rot in the stringers that the engine mounts to , on my 1989 searay 230cc befor doing any posting I want to find out the extent of the rot I suspect the rot has come from the limber hole at the back in the battery compartment and the same on the other side I've had the boat for 11 years and never thought about rot befor reading this forum and had a tap and poke and it's sacred me stupid , I'm very very handy so I know I can fix this it wont beat me ,im rstoring a 200 yearold house and restored classic cars and four other boats but never had rot in the stringers of any of the other boats ive worked on, must have been blind or lucky ? I want to find out for sure where this rot has gone and if its gone in the transom and do some core samples i assume you drill something like a 8 MM hole and just break the surface of the fiberglass and poke about with a screwdriver is this right ? Start at the botom and work up ? also my boat has a proper fibreglass cockpit floor with moulded in tread , am I going to have to cut this out in sections ? how will it go back in as I want it to still look original ? Befor i found the rot i was going to fit a teak deck so i could use this to cover the cuts and joins in the deck ? Is this the way forward ?
Thanks

 

[bgc]

Re: Just found rot in my 1989 searay 230cc help with core samples And moulded floor

Welcome to the dry dock,

When drilling, go in far enough to get a good sample of wood in the flutes of the bit. Look at the sample, dark and wet replace, light and dry its ok. Water will start in the lower sections of the wood and work its way up, so start sampling low. 8mm should be ok but go into the wood with the bit (dont go out the bottom )

Just my opinion but if you are going to do stringers and engine mounts, do the transom also. I would think trying to save the original sole/floor of the boat would be a lot more work. Your idea of teak deck sounds like a classy touch for the boat.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Just found rot in my 1989 searay 230cc help with core samples And moulded floor

I would try to find someone with a moisture meter first.

Yes you can start drillin with a 1/4" bit ( 8mm will be fine ) and examine the shavings.

This will tell you if you have moist wood..but not rotten to the bone wood in some cases.

YD.

 

[Restoration man]

Re: Just found rot in my 1989 searay 230cc help with core samples And moulded floor

I would try to find someone with a moisture meter first.

Yes you can start drillin with a 1/4" bit ( 8mm will be fine ) and examine the shavings.

This will tell you if you have moist wood..but not rotten to the bone wood in some cases.

YD.

Would one of these be ok

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIGITAL-L...461?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item25708df12d

I know it's cheap but I'm not going into boat surveys ,and as long as it can do a comparison with some good known glass encased wood assuming there is some on the boat ,hopefully somewhere up the pointy end ,

Should I first do a test on the glass surface then drill 2 small holes and do the test again ? My transome looks and feels like its got lots off glass on so I don't think the probs of a meter would penetrate the glass enough to get a true reading ?

Also is there a water percentage that's expectable ?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Just found rot in my 1989 searay 230cc help with core samples And moulded floor

I cant really tell from the description but that looks to be a probe type meter.. so it probably will not work.

Anything above 10-15% should be looked at. Normally you will have the needle peg out when you find water in stringers/bulks/transoms or around fittings and hardware.

You dont have any boat yards or fiberglass repair guys around you ? A 6 pack and a magic marker should get you locations of any suspicious locations from someone who has a meter .

YD.