New Leak

[tkz]

Hey Guys, New to boats, but second season out on my 1990 Starcraft Heritage 1601' 16 ft fiberglass I/O. From what I see I'm getting water in from the area of my rub guard that goes around the boat. Mostly coming in from one side while turning left. The water is being forced into the bottom of the rub guard , I see small gaps in the seal on the bottom of the guard, it's rubber set into a aluminum channel. Can I silicone these area up or do I have to remove the guard to replace the gasket / sealer around the entire boat? Had a lot of water coming in on low left turns, I can see gaps 1/8 wide, several inches long where the seal underneath the guard is deteriorating. I'd like to do a quick sealer fix to get me thru the season.. Can I run a bead under the rail to seal or should I remove the entire guard and replace whatever is underneath?

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: New Leak

1/8" gap -- did you hit anything?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: New Leak

The "right way is to remove the rubber, then the aluminum channel, reseal with 3m5200 and then re-install everything. Under that rubrail is the hull cap joint and it could be loose and needs to be treated properly to make sure you do not have a catastrophic separation

 

[tkz]

Re: New Leak

1/8" gap -- did you hit anything?

No didn't hit anything, it appears that this gap runs around the whole side and has a sealer or gasket filling most areas except small distances that has deteriorated.

 

[tkz]

Re: New Leak

The "right way is to remove the rubber, then the aluminum channel, reseal with 3m5200 and then re-install everything. Under that rubrail is the hull cap joint and it could be loose and needs to be treated properly to make sure you do not have a catastrophic separation

That's what I was thinking, I'm assuming that the fiberglass is not one piece from the sides to the top. Which means that I have gaps between the two, besides the gap that I see under the rub rail. I have a chain of lake tour to do this week since my daughter and BF are in town. Slow driving thru lakes and down connecting river. I'll just be slow and take it easy, and start the job after. (The Wife and I are just putters anyway, so easy slow is our usual. We were tubing the other day which is only a once a year event, when all my
Kids come back home. Boat at almost max weight and really leaning the turns. Thanks, ill need to fix ASAP then.

 

[tkz]

Re: New Leak

No didn't hit anything, it appears that this gap runs around the whole side and has a sealer or gasket filling most areas except small distances that has deteriorated.

Been docking at lake pubs lately, maybe the boat rubbing on the tires / posts have accelerated the deterioration of the sealant/adhesive.