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Is there a clever way to find where the leak is in a hull?
In this instance, boat sat static in water for eight hours and collected some water between compartment ribs in the centre two sections. One of these sections is open and 'getatable' the one next to it has had planking glued down.
Leak seems not associated with either the front or back end and certainly not with drive shaft tubes.
No visible signs on the outside of the hull even using magnifying glass.
Depressed by the thought that may have to strip all the hull paintwork off!
Seal off the gettable area with polythene put the hull in the domestic test tank then using a cycle pump put air into the sealed area watch for bubbles appearing (like looking for leaks in an inner tube) No bubbles no leak, move to the sealed area drill a small hole enough to get a football valve adapter in and again apply pressure and look for bubbles if there are bubbles and this is where the leak is you could enlarge the hole that the adaptor was fitted through and pour in some sealer and swirl it around .or cover the whole of the exterior of the hull with a liberal coating of clear sealer . Cheers Marky
Try covering the outside of the (dry) hull with kitchen or tissue paper and then fill the leaking compartment with water from the inside. With luck you will get a damp patch developing on the paper that will give you a pretty good idea of where the hole is.
Hi Neville, Some intriguing suggestions here 😉 Good luck with the bicycle pump 😁 To be brutally frank! There are no short cuts to leak proofing an old wooden hull properly🤔 1 Internal deck / xyz mounting notwithstanding, if there's something wrong with the hull I want to know it so I can fix it - for good! If the probable source of the leak is hidden by some internal deck or mounting for xyz it has to come out! 2 To be honest, looking closely at your pics of the hull underside it's obvious she has had a few knocks. I would want to sand back, seal and repaint at least the red underside. Having so cleaned the hull off I would closely inspect all joints around the keel and chines and look for signs of previous water intrusion and soaking into to keel especially - potential delamination / capillary action through the keel or joints. When the hull is fully dried out and sanded back I would seal it with a couple of coats of Ezekote; the first coat you can thin with a little warm water so that it soaks into the wood better. Don't overdo it, about 10-20% water is enough. Second coat pure resin. If it looks 'patchy' give it another coat of pure resin. Dries so fast all this doesn't take long. Had to do all this on my fish cutter hull, Gina2 - see Blog! Was a sieve to begin with, afterwards she passed her ballast test with flying colours😊 See also my Sea Scout Jessica Blog. After that repeat your bath test, with ballasting to waterline, and KEEP AN EYE ON IT so you can see where any watter creeps in from!😉 If you take a short cut now you may well have to do it again (properly) some time😁 cheers, Doug 😎
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
Evenin' John, I have one suggestion!😉 Continue these 'tool' 😲😁 posts in a new thread, e.g. under Hobby Chit Chat, title 'Useful Tools and their Sources'. Then they'd be easy for all to find and we wouldn't be Hijacking other threads. Cheers, Doug 😎
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
Visitors have set off late to avoid traffic so only now having to close down..........
I have had a quick look at the boat and there are a fair few holes inside the structure to block up if using air pressure.
To strip and paint up to the current waterline would be 'doable' for me and only need a red lead type finish and then seal. Not done that sought of think before but now on the list of possibles.
Certainly not going to be on the water for the Colwyn Bay Venetian Night at the end of the month!
Well the Eke-Kote has arrived, but so have the visitors.......
So no playing just yet.
I like the putting water inside and using absorbent paper on the outside.
However, I think I have spotted an issue around the Bow not noticed before. I do not think it can have contributed as in the wrong place, but potential issue for the future maybe.
Wrong place? How do you know that Neville? Once inside the water will run/creep to the lowest position it can reach! I don't like the idea of putting water INSIDE any wooden boat, 😲 not where it's supposed to be . Who knows where it creep to and soak in? Doug 😎 PS Get the visitors involved!😁
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
Looks like delamination, if water is getting in between the ply layers it will follow any gaps and porosity and could come out anywhere. I've had similar problems on my vintage restorations. The only thing to do is clean and repair any external damage then I would cover ultra fine glass cloth and Eze-Kote with at least 3 coats and rubbed down between coats. This should cure your problem and also strengthen the Hull.
Well just in case anyone was wondering.............After the visitors left I was being taken away for a few days R&R so I had a morning to 'mess about' as it is referred to here.
A quick cheap and cheerful job was the one for me so ignoring all advice so kindly given I took up on G. K. Chesterton's advice "If a job is worth doing it is worth doing badly".......or did I get that wrong?
First thing to do with a leaking boat was to drill some holes in it...........! You see, I was careful and had a piece of wood underneath.
After vacuuming out I then poured Eze-Kote through the holes and persuaded an assistant to use the boat as one would a cocktail shaker.
Then, pleased I had done something,I went away for a few days and it would have time to dry.
Well back now and placed boat into bath a few hours ago. Result was..........water in the bilges in the same quantity as previously!
Lesson......Always listen to Doug!
Now, rather than sailing, I have both the issue of this leak looking like 'amidships' and the business of that bow to deal with.
So will move back to the main thread.
What is the best proportion of liquid hardener to resin? I bought some whilst away. Came without instructions. They must have thought someone who knew what they were doing would be using it..................
Hi Neville, thanks for the endorsement👍 Just case of 'bin there - dun that - didn't work' Fixing a leak from the inside can never work properly. The water will continue to creep into the wood of the hull causing delamination of ply or simply rotting 🤔 Sealing the inside is intended to prevent any water entering through shaft tubes, rudder stocks or deck hatches etc from soaking into the wood.
Re your liquid hardener- Instructions on my can of polyester resin state- 2 to 4% by volume hardener -> 10 minutes working time, 40 minutes to harden @ 15 to 20°C. I.e. for 100ml resin 2 to 4ml hardener. Overdo it and it'll set in a few minutes and get damned hot in the process!😲 Has been know to cause fires or finger burns 😡 Cheers, Doug 😎
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
Depends on the resin, NPJ. If it's epoxy you've bought, you need to weigh out 1/5th of the hardener to any amount of resin. Ergo...20 grams of resin, 4 grams of hardener. So get some electronic scales (very cheap and essential to the use of resin)put 20 grams in of resin and then, without touching the scales pour in drips of hardener till you have 24 or 25 grams showing on the scales. Don't go above that. Epoxy requires accuracy of measurement and endless mixing. Just mix and mix till you're fed up with it, then mix a bit more. Don't use large amounts as the heat from the curing of a large amount will set it off even quicker. Looking at your bottom picture, I see bubbles in the paint. Scrape them right off and see what's below. Probably soft wood, so scrape that out too and allow to dry thoroughly. Then in with the resin. If there's a bit of a dip, you can make your own filler by mixing fine sawdust with the resin into a peanut butter consistency and look and apply that to already wetted out surfaces. I used that on a full sized wooden canal boat. Worked a treat. When that's set, you can file it flat with a rasp and a second cut then wet'n'dry on a block to finish. Finally repaint and wax. But, as Doug says, you need to see if the water's getting in somewhere else like the shaft or rudder areas.
Thank you Martin. I hope to try a bit of stripping later today to see what it is like. I will have to change my set-up to be able to deal with dust and over-spray. Worried about that.
NPJ, Dust isn't a problem until you come to refinishing. Do it all outside. I always spray outside and still do it up wind. Sprayed cellulose grey primer on my Crash Tender on Saturday and primer and off white enamel on my Chris Craft yesterday in a breeze, so stood upwind of it and all was well. Also rubbed down cellulose sanding sealer, dry. Dust just blew away. There's always a way round stuff.
10th Aug 2018 14:49
