Bilge rust stain Parker 1801

[Longislandfish]

Id want to know how it's getting so wet too. Doesn't appear that your bilge is staying wet. I guess it's hard to see but was the fiberglass not completely sealing the wood stringer? A little disappointing if that was the case. Does your boat stay in the water or live on a trailer? It really looks like poor craftsmanship but I think your plan will work fine, at least give you plenty breathing room until you decide to to do a more thorough repair. I woudl think you would still want to cover it with some fiberglass to prevent future intrusion of water. That's a damn shame and looks preventable.

I’m going to have to say it was an oversight by Parker and most likely the void was left half assed or just not adequate.

Boat is trailer sailed, cover at all times with plug removed bilge hatch always left agar, as well as bow hatch. To my dismay it was discovered like a previous posted, brown tannin colored staining resembling a rust spot.

The wood appears solid a few inches from entry point, but it has disintegrated by the void so where it’s a hollow shell from my examination with a pick tool.

I let it sit under heat for 5 hours and it seeped water. The wood already appears drier if that possible.

A glass man wants to tear my boat apart and I’m so sad to have to do it, I kept up with this thing and knowing there’s a rotten stringer at worst is enough to get me paranoid. Love this hull, and have had almost zero issues with construction, but this issue appears to be mostly caused by manufacturing failure or lack of product quality assurance. It looks too much like a void to me, however bashing a 20 year old hull is pointless.

Time will tell, I can fish and use it as is, but it will drive me crazy thinking that it’s rotting beneath my feet, as they say ignorance is sometimes bliss. Shouldn’t have poked my head around down there, now I gotta a problem I can’t walk away from

 

[Longislandfish]

almost 3 weeks drying under fans and it’s almost there. I added additional holes and was able to find a cheap fan that fits perfect inside the bilge. I also saturated the stringer through the inspection holes with antifreeze as it contains ethylene glycol which is toxic to all microbes and rot forming biology. I also drilled entirely though the stringer as it appears to be doubled up 3/4 ply. Found the far side to be very wet and saturated with clear water with no smell.

I did a lot of reading and folded on smiths clear penetrating epoxy for a few reasons. One, it was designed by a chemist with the intention of stopping and repairing rot in historical homes where the old growth wood was superior to what they have around today. Second it contains toxic solvents which help eliminate rot and also carry the epoxy further and deeper into the wood. Another reason is it has been around for a long time and it has high epoxy solids that will help seal the wood. It seams it’s a highly regarded product for what it was designed to do. The moisture content must be in a reasonable range for any epoxy to cure so time is the limiting factor.

I’m not in a rush, but I think I have had enough time to decide how to deal with this and this is the best solution for my problem. It’s warm here and I am fishing from my kayak, I am going to wait another 2-3 weeks and see how I feel.

Once the epoxy is injected I will fill the bored holes with thickened epoxy then will clean amine blush and mix up some Parker gelcoat and paint the small area after I knock down some gelcoat with sander.

When the tank starts to go I will have a better idea and perhaps cut out an area to check the stringer,

It’s hard to justify cutting out a solid deck and stringer, I am torn of the whole bit but the boat is solid as ever and I don’t want to chase a ghost.

Hopefully this does the trick

 

[Puck-n-Fish]

Sounds like a well thought out plan. It will be better than it was a month ago. Lousy time of year to be without the boat though!

 

[Longislandfish]

Ok. 2 months later under the cover with a fan running non stop.

Finally injected the smiths penetrating epoxy and gave it 2 days to cure.

Came back with a grinder and decided to grind up the stress cracks around the stringer as it was most likely cause of them.

Ground out a decent area, cleaned the dust wiped with acetone and then mixed up some structural resin with milled fibers and cabosil and injected the 3/16 holes. Also filled the void on the end grain and built it out a little to allow for the 1708 tab to wrap easily.

It’s a horrible spot to work so I had several types of grinders running back and forth.

I then gave it a quick grind and mixed up one more batch of “hull and deck” poly resin peanut butter and filled some deeper voids that I created with the angle and bandsaw.

Precut and soaked a single layer of 1708 to reinforce the area and tie into the existing structure. A lil messy work, but I pre soaked it so I wouldn’t have any air bubbles or dry layup. I had an easy time just wrapping it around the edge and letting it setup. It’s not pretty but it’s for sure 1000 times better than it was and most likely will keep the water out.

I may come back and open the deck up and do the right job and remove the potential rotten core.

Have a few more pieces to gusset this up, before slapping on the old Cecil marine Parker gelcoat and calling it ready to fish.


Again it ain’t pretty but I think it’s a better solution that leaving it alone