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Author Topic:   Long-term Water Collection in UniBond Hull

cvyarb posted 09-03-2014 10:43 PM ET (US)
My father's Whaler 27 Full Cabin WD was in dry storage for 5 years. We paid the marina to store it, and specifically asked them to pull the plugs. They didn't.
There was shrink wrap on the boat to prevent large scale water collection, but a three-foot hole was cut in the shrink wrap about two years ago. When I went to see the boat in May there was two-feet of water in the bilge. This type of large scale water collection would only have been present for two years at most.
I had the boat surveyed in June, but the surveyor only hit the outside of the hull with the mallet. He said it was solid as a rock. My fear is that water seeped in through mounting screws in the hull that are used to anchor the fuel tank, electrical systems, fuel systems, bilge pumps, etc., and could have caused soft spots on the inside of the hull.
Anyone have any well informed, professional. or similar experience, i.e. not total guesses, about this situation?
I appreciate your help immensely.
Jeff posted 09-03-2014 11:30 PM ET (US)
Honestly I would not worry about it. I guaranty that you have some water intrusion but nothing of concern. People have treated their whalers with a lot worse care and had no real lasting effects.
Anyway with the way Whaler designed all of their internal fuel tank cavities, there was likely water getting into your areas of concern well before it went into dry storage 5 years ago.
jimh posted 09-03-2014 11:43 PM ET (US)
My experience with the application of screw fasteners into the Unibond hull of Boston Whaler boats that are more than 20-years-old--that's the range of my experience not my assessment of the range of what I am about to describe--has found that most factory-installed or dealer-installed (or even previous-owner-installed) fasteners that were not installed on the exterior of the hull and below the water line were typically not installed with a bedding compound or sealing compound. Literally every screw fastener on my Boston Whaler boats--three boats in total--seemed to have been installed without any attention to bedding the screw into a sealant to make the fastener and its hole into the hull water tight. Based on that experience, I would have concern for a boat in which a significant amount of standing water collected in the boat cockpit and cabin areas. I think water could penetrate into screw fastener holes that were not sealed. It is also typical that not every screw fastener in an older Boston Whaler boat is still tightened. Years of running the boat, with vibration from the engine and banging around in the waves, tends to loosen fasteners. A loose fastener in a hole without any sort of sealant or bedding will certainly have a path for water to enter.
I am mostly concerned about water getting into fastener holes where the fastener is screwed into a wood backing--and, of course, that is where most fasteners are located, as a screw into just the laminate will not have much strength or purchase. Because the water that has been standing in the boat under discussion was rain water, it was fresh water. Fresh water tends to create rot in wood.
To assess the possibility that there has been ingress of water through fastener holes into the Unibond hull and embedded wood backing material, remove some of the suspected fasteners. Probe the fastener holes with a small pick, testing the hardness of the wood. If the wood is soft and appears to be rotted, the fastener holes may be weak and in decayed wood.
I do know how far water might travel from a poorly seated and poorly sealed fastener hole.
Anecdotal experience: when I bought my first larger Boston Whaler, a Revenge 20, I had to borrow a truck to haul it to my home from the seller's location, as I did not own a tow vehicle with enough capacity to handle the load. I parked the boat in my driveway. It sat there for about a week. It rained almost all that week. I did not realize it, but all the plugs were in the boat. The next weekend, when I had a chance to pull back the cover and go aboard my new boat, I was very upset to see that several inches of rain water had accumulated in the cockpit from all the rain. I immediately pulled the plug, and let all the water drain. The next Monday I called Boston Whaler, and spoke to Chuck Bennett about what had happened. He told me not to worry--no harm done. Of course, that water was only sitting there for a few days. If it sat there for two years it might be a different story.
martyn1075 posted 09-04-2014 02:56 AM ET (US)
[Ingress of water into the hull] is always a fear, but I agree: I think [the boat under discussion] is probably just fine and not a problem as long as there are no significant open holes that water could get in. Two feet of water creates some added weight in the back. I believe your hull was very similar design to my old 25 Whaler Walkaround which has a very large bilge area under the center stern teak cabinets. My measured at least 3-feet wide and likely 3.5- to 4-feet deep. The water has the potential to rise about 2-feet and after that the cleverly designed corner drains would kick out the rest before it could swamp the boat. They relieve water between the drive and the hull and are designed to be out of the water when at rest. Lets say 12-cubic-feet of total sapce but half of that has standing water. 749-lbs of weight divided by two equals 374-lbs.
It does seem like a lot of weight but still not a problem for your boat at all. I looked at a 23 Walkaround that still has water not only in the bilge but flowing up into the tank cavity area over filling the entire center of the boat including the cockpit all its drains overflowing into the cabin and has been sitting in the boat ever since for over 5 years without being drained out. Over 1,800-lbs!! of standing water weight in that one. That is one heavy bathtub.
cvyarb posted 09-04-2014 10:26 AM ET (US)
Thank you everyone for your responses. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to chime in.
JimH I tend to see it as you do, especially if the (and it sounds like they are not) the screws/bolts inside the hull were not sealed. I will try to probe the wood behind some of these screws. Hopefully this will give me a place to start and to get the information I need.
I'm sort of scared by what I may find though.

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Author	Topic: Long-term Water Collection in UniBond Hull
cvyarb	posted 09-03-2014 10:43 PM ET (US) My father's Whaler 27 Full Cabin WD was in dry storage for 5 years. We paid the marina to store it, and specifically asked them to pull the plugs. They didn't. There was shrink wrap on the boat to prevent large scale water collection, but a three-foot hole was cut in the shrink wrap about two years ago. When I went to see the boat in May there was two-feet of water in the bilge. This type of large scale water collection would only have been present for two years at most. I had the boat surveyed in June, but the surveyor only hit the outside of the hull with the mallet. He said it was solid as a rock. My fear is that water seeped in through mounting screws in the hull that are used to anchor the fuel tank, electrical systems, fuel systems, bilge pumps, etc., and could have caused soft spots on the inside of the hull. Anyone have any well informed, professional. or similar experience, i.e. not total guesses, about this situation? I appreciate your help immensely.
Jeff	posted 09-03-2014 11:30 PM ET (US) Honestly I would not worry about it. I guaranty that you have some water intrusion but nothing of concern. People have treated their whalers with a lot worse care and had no real lasting effects. Anyway with the way Whaler designed all of their internal fuel tank cavities, there was likely water getting into your areas of concern well before it went into dry storage 5 years ago.
jimh	posted 09-03-2014 11:43 PM ET (US) My experience with the application of screw fasteners into the Unibond hull of Boston Whaler boats that are more than 20-years-old--that's the range of my experience not my assessment of the range of what I am about to describe--has found that most factory-installed or dealer-installed (or even previous-owner-installed) fasteners that were not installed on the exterior of the hull and below the water line were typically not installed with a bedding compound or sealing compound. Literally every screw fastener on my Boston Whaler boats--three boats in total--seemed to have been installed without any attention to bedding the screw into a sealant to make the fastener and its hole into the hull water tight. Based on that experience, I would have concern for a boat in which a significant amount of standing water collected in the boat cockpit and cabin areas. I think water could penetrate into screw fastener holes that were not sealed. It is also typical that not every screw fastener in an older Boston Whaler boat is still tightened. Years of running the boat, with vibration from the engine and banging around in the waves, tends to loosen fasteners. A loose fastener in a hole without any sort of sealant or bedding will certainly have a path for water to enter. I am mostly concerned about water getting into fastener holes where the fastener is screwed into a wood backing--and, of course, that is where most fasteners are located, as a screw into just the laminate will not have much strength or purchase. Because the water that has been standing in the boat under discussion was rain water, it was fresh water. Fresh water tends to create rot in wood. To assess the possibility that there has been ingress of water through fastener holes into the Unibond hull and embedded wood backing material, remove some of the suspected fasteners. Probe the fastener holes with a small pick, testing the hardness of the wood. If the wood is soft and appears to be rotted, the fastener holes may be weak and in decayed wood. I do know how far water might travel from a poorly seated and poorly sealed fastener hole. Anecdotal experience: when I bought my first larger Boston Whaler, a Revenge 20, I had to borrow a truck to haul it to my home from the seller's location, as I did not own a tow vehicle with enough capacity to handle the load. I parked the boat in my driveway. It sat there for about a week. It rained almost all that week. I did not realize it, but all the plugs were in the boat. The next weekend, when I had a chance to pull back the cover and go aboard my new boat, I was very upset to see that several inches of rain water had accumulated in the cockpit from all the rain. I immediately pulled the plug, and let all the water drain. The next Monday I called Boston Whaler, and spoke to Chuck Bennett about what had happened. He told me not to worry--no harm done. Of course, that water was only sitting there for a few days. If it sat there for two years it might be a different story.
martyn1075	posted 09-04-2014 02:56 AM ET (US) [Ingress of water into the hull] is always a fear, but I agree: I think [the boat under discussion] is probably just fine and not a problem as long as there are no significant open holes that water could get in. Two feet of water creates some added weight in the back. I believe your hull was very similar design to my old 25 Whaler Walkaround which has a very large bilge area under the center stern teak cabinets. My measured at least 3-feet wide and likely 3.5- to 4-feet deep. The water has the potential to rise about 2-feet and after that the cleverly designed corner drains would kick out the rest before it could swamp the boat. They relieve water between the drive and the hull and are designed to be out of the water when at rest. Lets say 12-cubic-feet of total sapce but half of that has standing water. 749-lbs of weight divided by two equals 374-lbs. It does seem like a lot of weight but still not a problem for your boat at all. I looked at a 23 Walkaround that still has water not only in the bilge but flowing up into the tank cavity area over filling the entire center of the boat including the cockpit all its drains overflowing into the cabin and has been sitting in the boat ever since for over 5 years without being drained out. Over 1,800-lbs!! of standing water weight in that one. That is one heavy bathtub.
cvyarb	posted 09-04-2014 10:26 AM ET (US) Thank you everyone for your responses. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to chime in. JimH I tend to see it as you do, especially if the (and it sounds like they are not) the screws/bolts inside the hull were not sealed. I will try to probe the wood behind some of these screws. Hopefully this will give me a place to start and to get the information I need. I'm sort of scared by what I may find though.