Structural Moisture Remediation - something I came across . . .

[tpenfield]

I know that the topic of resolving structural moisture ( in transoms, stringers, bulkheads, foam chambers, etc) in a "pre-rot" situation comes up on this forum from time to time. I myself have raised the issue with my current boat. Conventional wisdom is to cut & gut the affected areas and replace with new material. All to often this issue comes up in a pre-purchase or immediately after purchase scenario.

I happened to see a thread on another forum of someone in the buying process (used boat) who came across a candidate boat with structural moisture issues and it was recommended to him ( & the seller) to use a company & process called "DryBoat" ( www.dry-boat.com ).

Apparently this process involves pumping very dry (desert like) air into the moisture laden areas of the boat and drying it out. Then everything is sealed up. While I see some draw-backs to this process, in that by no means would it guarantee that rot would not set in at a later time, it is interesting to see this process as a commercial offering for boats with moisture problems.

Just wanted to share, as I was quite surprised to see it as a commercial process and wondering if others have heard of or seen it . . :noidea:

Nothing came up on this site when I did a search for 'dryboat'.

 

[Mark72233]

That's pretty cool and very ingenious for who ever came up with not only the idea but how to bring it to life. Big issue for me is that would work well on a boat where there was a moisture problem that had just started and was detected very early on before any wood actually started to deteriorate. Suck the moisture out and dry wood again, but now find where it was compromised and seal it up. Did you find all the areas where water was coming in. Did you catch it in time before wood started rotting. And I am sure there are a 100 more what ifs. Still a pretty cool idea and there are plenty of folks with more $$ then sense that will go this route. Who knows it might actually work.

 

[tpenfield]

Yea, I am thinking that encapsulated wood, once it gets wet will still probably rot even though it gets dried out. Just a different form of rot. I think it would be a better process if they injected some sort of rot preventive substance after it is all dried out and before it is sealed up.

Also your point about getting to the root cause . . . else it will just get wet again.

 

[jbcurt00]

Interesting for sure.

Noticed all the examples were MONSTER boats, so spending 10times what I have in all my boats combined, rather then gutting a 40ftr, is a good alternative I suppose.....

Jeez, whats it run for a full gut on a 40ftr when its a shop doing it all... yikes.

 

[g0nef1sshn]

Maybe its more of a one time flooded or swamped boat kinda thing like youd call someone to dry carpet out. Not for obvious damaged from moisture wood.

 

[Bondo]

Yea, I am thinking that encapsulated wood, once it gets wet will still probably rot even though it gets dried out. Just a different form of rot. I think it would be a better process if they injected some sort of rot preventive substance after it is all dried out and before it is sealed up.

Ayuh,..... When they get the water moisture down to a very low percentage, they oughta give it a blast of antifreeze,.....
'n then seal it up at a still fairly low moisture %,...

Or maybe flood it with something like Rot Doctor, the watery epoxy stuff,....

Might make panels to rigid, or hard spots through,....

 

[tpenfield]

Yea, I was thinking of the EG antifreeze as well, but I did not see anything like that in the DryBoat process. Probably not that hard to do though.

Bondo - I like the new signature :thumb:

 

[Yacht Dr.]

"pre-rot" situation

This is the only way they could do it. Ill bet that there is a disclaimer for 'existing rot' though. I wonder if they xray it first?

I have done this a few times with deck core. Hooked up a vacuum pump and ran it through a water trap. Good balsa core but wet..dried it out nicely.. The thing is Time. I could have replaced the core and had the boat back in the water before it was done extracting.

Its not a bad alternative actually..as long as its not rotted like you said though.

 

[jigngrub]

Looks like beige voodoo to me, and a waste of time and money that should be used to repair the boat properly.

Finding out that you have water intrusion early enough for this system to be effective would be a 1,000,000:1 longshot and probably still wouldn't be worth the cost of the procedure... but I'm sure there's a few people out there that will prove P.T. Barnum right and try this method instead of the correct alternative.

 

[sphelps]

That looked very similar to a process they use to dry out wet walls and ceilings .. On one of my job sights the fire protection guys missed gluing a sprinkler head .. It held up long enough to pretty much finish the job with just a couple days before move in ... The system had the same looking manifold with tubes running everywhere forcing hot dry air throughout . They kept checking with a moisture meter until it was dry ..

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Looks like beige voodoo to me, and a waste of time and money that should be used to repair the boat properly..

Im sure this system isnt being marketed for your typical backyard trailer boat. There have been quite a few 50'+ boats that metered 'wet' in the stringers. After taking a few core samples indicating that its still good wood ( just wet ), It was determined by both the adjusters and the insurance Co's that replacement is not a viable or cost effective solution. Gutting out half of a 50' Viking just to replace a 'wet stringer' for example would cost a tremendous amount of time. This is where something like this system would come into play.

And when I did that deck core extraction..it was bone dry and never metered wet again. I wouldnt be to hasty in saying this is an improper way of repairing..it Can and Does work in certain situations

 

[Tail_Gunner]

I can see now reason why that would not work, i have often thought of simply taking a few boats to the Ariz desert and simply let them bake in the hot arid desert for a month...i am quite sure the moisture would evaporate completely. How many member's are from the desert here i suspect wet stringers are not to much of a issue what so ever,