Question for the Glass Gurus

[dono]

Looks like the interior shop made a booboo on my Pantera 24. I had my interior reskinned and reinstalled as my annual winter project. I used the boat about 5 times since, and left the boat twice overnight in the water during the memorial day weekend. During each outing I've noticed a significant amount of water in my bilge area, also noticed from the drain in my cabin while on the trailer. My initial thoughts were the bellows needed replacing but not seroius. Over the mem day weekend my bilge had taken in enough water to lower the boat almost to my pipes. Took about 15 mins to pump out. Earlier today I did a thorough inspection of my hull just to rule out any potential damage. Low and behold I noticed two small holes protruding about 6 inches apart from one another on the bottom of the hull beside the chine. I scratched my head and looked in the boat trying to make sense. From what I can tell is the interior shop used the wrong screws when reinstalling my bolsters and went complete through my stringer enough to protrude the gelcoat. The interior shop has a glassman and has agreed to fix it. Says they will have to grind out the area, reglass and re gelcoat which will take a couple of days. In the meantime they said they could sink a screw and sealant from the outside just to use as a temp fix for the weekend. My question, should this just be a simple grind, glass and gel or have my stringers gotten soaked and I'll need to pull everything out and have the hull surveyed. Thoughts, advice?

Thanks,

D

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

The wood that got wet needs to get good and dry before it is glasses over and sealed. Its not so much that it got wet it is when it stays wet that problems arise. Don't rush the repair . Open up the hole from both ends and allow to dry thoroughly. Getting it dry is very important. My 2 cents.

[dono]

How long should the dry out period be? Very small holes just protruding throught the gel but wonder how much wood got wet and if the inner deck needs to be removed to the stringers. Planning on using the boat tomorrow, is this a week repair or drill it and let it sit for a few months.

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

I can not say how long.. I would guess it could take about as long as it has been soaking. As wood begins to decay it tends to leaves a brown stain where the moisture drips out. Once it begins the wood will never be the same again.. If it were mine I I would drill out where the tapping screws were and vacuum it until i could not see any more moisture than I would heat the area until I was satisfied it was dry.

I am sorry you are burdened by this. Time is not on your side and you should not put off getting it dried out.

[afr]

everything MMM said get it repaired asap and then be mindfull of the area and give it the knock test from time to time over then next few months to make sure theres not going to be a rot issue down the road of coarse this only pertains to wood

[insanity]

I don't think the screws went through your stringers, I would think they went though the hull and the coring in the hull. Unless the 24 Pantera's don't have a cored bottom.

I also wouldn't think that two small screws would cause enough leakage to cause the boat to go down that much but I guess it depends how much time it was in the water.

At any rate, it's a cluster-bleep.

[MacGyver]

Where is GlassDave on this?

[Donskihp]

I was a rigger for a boat company back in the late 80's and chances are the screws didn't hit the stringers. The screws most likely went through where the floor and hull where they are the closest together, which would be close to the gunnel. If it hit a stringer,the stringer woud have really gotten a good soaking from the description. If the stringer is sealed real well it would take months to dry it. Most companys don't seal stringers that well, so they might have already been wet. water can travel through fiberglass if the glass wasn't saturated really good with resin. I'm not that familiar with Pantera construction, maybe someone has some picks of a Pantera with the floor off.

[Offshore Ginger]

with all of the above and if i was you i would get some heat on that area ASAP because the longer the wood stays wet it can cause and will create a breakdown in the glue causing the wood ( ply )to de laminate and rot considering that just might be the case were the stringer actually has gotten wet and hopefully with a little luck it hasn't .

[phragle]

I would get it documented, photoed, and get something in writing from the upholstry company.... if you got that much water in it a few times, they may make it pretty again, but in 2 or 3 years when you find a bad stringer and maybe a bulkhead who is going to pay for it to get fixed????, get a decent surveyer that will satisfy you and the upholstry company to look at it, take moisture readings etc BEFORE their glass guy starts grinding on your boat, get it in writing from them that they f'd up and their mistake filled your boat with water multiple times, CYA.

[Racerguymiami]

May also want to add a automatic float switch for the bilge pump. If it took 15 minutes to pump out and sea level was near the pipes, that was alot of water. Auto bilge switch should be independent of the battery switch and hot at all times.

[dono]

Photos: Here's a link to the pics I took last nights. I checked the Bolster screws, they were all short. Damage looks like it was made internally. Speculation someone used long screw then realized. http://community.webshots.com/album/577986957BAhBqU

[Offshore Ginger]

What a shame because those are some big frickin holes from the looks of the pics and to think nobody ever made you aware of it because i can almost bet a dime to a dollar that someone knew of those holes before the boat left the shop and the funny thing is...... you should be able to take the boat to who ever you want to as far as the glass work goes and have them foot the bill and give you a discount on the interior work just for the inconvenience or give you your money back period . Just my 2 cents because that is B/S . Just curious have you had a chance to really look at the boat and inspect it to determine what damage as really been done at this point ?

[dono]

The actual holes are a few milimeters across the whole area about half the size of a dime in two places.

[jeffswav]

The area should be ground down from the inside and out. I would not let them touch my boat and I would take it to somone that knows what they are doing. That looks like somthing a car stereo place would do.

[boatnuts]

Are you absolutely sure that you have stringers that far out? Usually they (stringers) follow the strake lines and the chine lines tend to be solid glass alittle thicker than the overall bottom. You may just have a dead air space between the floor and the bottom at that point. I'd play with a piece of 14 gauge wire and do a little feeling around in there before making any judgements.

[dono]

I spoke with PePe who built the boat this morning. He looked at the photos and said that area is all glass, no worries. Good news on that.

[Offshore Ginger]

I spoke with PePe who built the boat this morning. He looked at the photos and said that area is all glass, no worries. Good news on that.

Thats great and hopefully you will be back on the water this weekend !