Water seeping thru box stinger

Reel Smoker · #1 02-21-2003, 12:30 AM

My boat sits in the water most of the time ,I noticed in the past that water was seeping thru a small crack towards the end of the port side box stringer.At one point I noticed my brass thru hull in the front compartment was loose and water was coming in thru there between the hull and the liner, I tightened it and 5200 the threads. It stopped for a while now I noticed it again, I glassed the side of the box stinger to keep it from leaking inside but its coming from another area about 8 inches from the patch.Any suggestions ? RS.

Reel Smoker · #2 02-21-2003, 10:28 PM

Thanks for your advice.Tomorrow im going to do a couple of tests to see if I can find out for sure were water is coming from.Are the box stringers hollow inside or were they filled with foam or wood when they put these Potter hulls together?

TUGBOAT · #3 02-22-2003, 01:01 AM

I had the same problems except I had plastic thru hulls forward.They kept shearing.I 'm replacing with brass now.I was told By Mr.Vador
That they had a flaw on the keel/stringers under the forward ice/storage box.Not enough glass/voids.?Boat trailers & rough Poundage would crack them.He is in Sweetwater,Fl.look under Repairs Modifications for His Tele.#
Scream'n Reels
Tug

TUGBOAT · #4 02-22-2003, 01:02 AM

Oh Yeah Mine is a '83 20' MA .
After Potter's
Tug

JohnS · #5 02-22-2003, 01:12 AM

I have seen this on several boats. You are going to have to pull the boat and let it dry out to get anything to really work long term. The 5200 is great stuff and will work fantastic on your thru-hull fitting but, again, everything has to be thoroughly dry. Remove the thru-hull, dry out, replace thru-hull using 5200, and let cure before launching. Just remember, 5200 is a pain to remove once it is there. You could use 4200 which would be easier to work with later if you needed.

About your crack, again, pull the boat. From the outside, grind the area out and allow to dry. Make sure you grind it out well past the crack and at a good enough angle to allow new material to have good adhesion. After the area dries, could take a several days, you can make a repair. I like West System. I fixed one on a friends boat a few years ago and it went like this. After all dry, sand the area, mix epoxy(use fast hardener), wet area out with small brush, inject epoxy into crack using syringe, mix filler with left over epoxy to a consistency of peanut butter, fill crack with this below the repair finish level, allow to cure overnight. Next, sand area smooth and prepare for adhesion, using glass tape or alike, mix epoxy, wet out area again, lay three layer of glass, each layer being a little bigger than the last. Make sure glass is wet thoroughly each time. Allow to dry. Sand smooth and fair as required. That crack should never come back.

West System has a little kit that comes with the epoxy and hardener, all premeasured in little packages, mixing cups, fillers, sticks, brushes, etc. It comes with six packages of epoxy and runs about $25.00. The glass tape runs about $10.00.

www.westsystem.com

John