Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

[biederboat]

Ok, I did a lot of searching on this. I also have a lot of experience with Starcraft boats but mostly older than my present model. My 1996 19' Sport Fisherman has leaks in the keel area. The bilge wants to drain about every 15 minutes and it drips out when you fill with water. I has assumed all along that it was due to loose rivets (keel to hull) since that's where the water comes out. However, the searching I've done tends to point to the bow area of the keep and specifically the area where the hull is joined along the center-line. Some other posts in another forum indicated that whatever Starcraft did to seal the joint generally tended not to hold up well. Water would leak in past the keel (which is relatively open) and then up into the hull. So, my questions are:

1. Is this the correct interpretation, i.e that the problem is in the joint and not necessarily the keel itself? I've been attacking the problem from the outside (sealing the keel) but maybe I need to work on the inside? Just want to make really sure before I tear the forward floor out for naught.

2. Looks like there's some credibility to using Gluvit to seal the keel; will that work? Also, I've generally understood that "Coat it" is a superior product but will abide by what experienced folks suggest.

Thanks,
BB

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

I don't know about a '96 SF, but the old Starcrafts had a one piece, formed bottom, no keel joint. Newer ones might be different. Gluvit and Coat-it are about the same performance wise, Coat-it is a little less $$$.

I think it's best to attack the leak from the inside, of course that means tearing up the floor and digging out poured-in foam. Not fun in any boat.

Hope someone with a newer SC will chime in.

 

[biederboat]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

I don't know about a '96 SF, but the old Starcrafts had a one piece, formed bottom, no keel joint. Newer ones might be different. Gluvit and Coat-it are about the same performance wise, Coat-it is a little less $$$.

I think it's best to attack the leak from the inside, of course that means tearing up the floor and digging out poured-in foam. Not fun in any boat.

Hope someone with a newer SC will chime in.

The other thread I saw implied to me that there was a "split", right about where the bow starts to rise. I have a hard time seeing how any boat of this type could be made without a split there (and to be clear, just from where the bow rise starts to the bow time, not on the main hull). When I worked on my older boats I seem to recall there was a lot of "goop" poured in towards the front but can't recall for sure.

Thanks,
BB

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Yes the bottom is one piece and the "split" is in the bow section.

Here are your leaking points-

Rivets - look closely and you will see if you have a loose one or one (or more is missing)
The keel area with rivets.
The side chines where the hull meets the sides of the hull (normally double row riveted)...... I have had that seam leak "under pressure" and gluvit fixed that.
The motor mounts - the lower holes for the motor are usually under water while your boat is not moving - seal those bolts.
Live Well - do you have one??? The plumbing for a live well can start to leak real easy.

I know this is not what you want to hear...... but...... gluvit works best from inside the hull (But will work on the exterior).

You can "cheat" if you find just a few bad rivets and smear 3m5200 around the head of the rivet.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Gluvit and Coat-it are about the same in performance, but Coat-it is black and it'll look like you've smeared tar on the inside of your boat while Gluvit is clear and much less noticeable. Both of these products work best on the inside of the boat, they're a thin runny/drippy product made to seep down into cracks and crevices to seal leaks and can create a big mess when applied to the exterior of a boat and the outside curvatures of a boat make the Gluvit want to run off instead of seep down into the cracks like it will when applied to the inside of a hull. They're both epoxy products and will suffer UV breakdown if left exposed to sunlight so they have to be painted over if applied to the exterior of a boat.

The OEM builds on the newer aluminum boats make it easy to disassemble the insides, the decks and carpet pieces are wrapped with carpet and then screwed into place in the boat and all you have to do is move the carpet nap around to find find the screws and back them out and lift the carpeted pieces. But, if your boat has been recarpeted by someone that didn't know what they were doing and they screwed the decking down and then installed the carpet you'll have to rip up all of the carpeting and sand off all of the old carpet glue to find the screws that hold the decking down (brilliant).

Since your boat is leaking quickly, you may not have too much problems with foam along the keel area. The keel area on the newer boats usually has a drainage channel along the keel where the foam is left out.

I've been attacking the problem from the outside (sealing the keel) but maybe I need to work on the inside?

As you can see from your past attempts, trying to stop leaks from the outside of an aluminum hull rarely works for long... if at all.

 

[biederboat]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Thanks all, most of what you have mentioned matches my experience except the part of attacking it from the inside; which I will do. As I have some other floor issues (do some searching on my posts and you'll see, but just if you're bored!) I intend to basically remove the floor and then I'll do a water test to make sure there's not some coming in from the chine area (I doubt it is but want to make damn sure).

Starcrafts are great boats, I've rebuilt two before the days of posting your project on the internet was popular so you could share your pain and glory! That includes taking a 21' Chieftain from an I/O w/ cuddy to an outboard open bow. Dang I miss that boat!

Thanks again,
BB

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Well if you're going to be removing decking anyway I'd go ahead and Gluvit all the seams on the inside.

If you find you have some leaky rivets, this is an easy and long lasting fix for those:
1989 Sylvan Boat Rebuild Part 4 - YouTube

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Thanks all, most of what you have mentioned matches my experience except the part of attacking it from the inside; which I will do. As I have some other floor issues (do some searching on my posts and you'll see, but just if you're bored!) I intend to basically remove the floor and then I'll do a water test to make sure there's not some coming in from the chine area (I doubt it is but want to make damn sure).

Starcrafts are great boats, I've rebuilt two before the days of posting your project on the internet was popular so you could share your pain and glory! That includes taking a 21' Chieftain from an I/O w/ cuddy to an outboard open bow. Dang I miss that boat!

Thanks again,
BB

Good luck on making her leak-free, BB. Got any pics of your modded Chieftain? Sounds like an interesting project.

 

[classiccat]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

...
Starcrafts are great boats, I've rebuilt two before the days of posting your project on the internet was popular so you could share your pain and glory!
...

Agree! now tear into that bad boy and start sharing your pain and glory! :hungry:

 

[classiccat]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Chad's '91 SFM. I saw this boat in-person...these hulls are put together very well!

 

[biederboat]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Good luck on making her leak-free, BB. Got any pics of your modded Chieftain? Sounds like an interesting project.

Oh boy, you're gonna make me relive the pain! Drove it, bought it, sat in my driveway 8 years before it's maiden "relaunch". Used it heavily for about 6-7 years before a fateful event on Hwy 101 near Hoodsport. Insurance treated me well and so I said "screw it' to the rebuild and bought the next "project".

Agree! now tear into that bad boy and start sharing your pain and glory! :hungry:

And here's the present project in question. As you can see, much has been done and much remains!

Thanks for all the help!
BB

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Sorry to dredge up painful thoughts, BB. Looks like you did a great job.

 

[classiccat]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Oh boy, you're gonna make me relive the pain! Drove it, bought it, sat in my driveway 8 years before it's maiden "relaunch". Used it heavily for about 6-7 years before a fateful event on Hwy 101 near Hoodsport. Insurance treated me well and so I said "screw it' to the rebuild and bought the next "project".

View attachment 223462



And here's the present project in question. As you can see, much has been done and much remains!

Thanks for all the help!
BB

you're past the point of no return :madgrin:

Awesome boat! You'll have her leak-free in no-time :thumb:

 

[biederboat]

Re: Keel leak in 1996 Starcraft

Sorry to dredge up painful thoughts, BB. Looks like you did a great job.

Well don't feel too bad, it's a little bit LOL. Long story short I do like the new boat better, especially if I can fix that damn keel leak! I have to admit that, as much as I've worked on these boats, I never considered fixing it from the inside (let alone the true source of the leak) and that the chine area might be leaking under load. I just finally decided to google a bit about "Starcraft keel leak" and that's what led me to here so I'm glad to be on a better path (especially now that I'm not looking down the gun barrel of thinking I have to drill out and re-rivet the keel). But I do need to come up with some solutions for holding the floor down better. If you look at the photo of my 96 all opened up, you'll notice a very poor manner in which the outboard sections of the floor are fastened down. I so much like the older style where the hat section went cross-wise and you riveted to the top of those. I'm definitely going to fab up some custom parts so I have a sturdy runner to work with. I'm also going to pull the entire transom and replace with the material made by Space Age Synthetics which is what I have for the floor. Pretty sure it has wood that has copper in it which is starting to wreak havoc with the aluminum in the transom (there is some corrosion all the way through). Look for a future write-up!

BB