Many thanks to all of you for you assistance as we brought this boat back to life. We have been through many of the things that you recommended. And, we have followed the advice of quite a few others. One of the most useful pieces of advice was: be methodical.
Quick reminder, donated 1998 2520 with a seized 2007 Optimax 225. We cleaned up the boat, made some fiberglass repairs, repaired the engine endlessly, until clear of codes. Our last post was about how the boat wouldn't come up on plane, although the engine seemed to be making power. Well, we have finally got the engine to the place where it is running without coats, playing the boat, making 5500 RPMs. Seemingly running well. New or rebuilt: Rails tested, compression good, injectors cleaned, new oil tank, new fuel filters, new spark plugs, the tracker valve, new belt, rebuilt lower unit, new water fuel sensor, VST cleaned, use the Merck prop selector to stay focused on a three blade 15P prop, replaced an actuator on a bow plane.
Heres the problem: Boat will only make 20 knots, between 4500 RPMs and full RPMs.
Odds are we are left with the only other likely primary problem: the boat is waterlogged. And, we have some indications that point in that direction pretty convincingly:
Weight: after we first dunked the boat, we took it to a junkyard weigh in. The boat and trailer weighed in at approximately 8400 unladen, with what we estimate to be a 1850 pound trailer. Putting it way over any reasonable weight. Since then we have been working on the boat and keeping hatch covers and deck plates open, while we did other repairs. It is not in the water. And, we have been vacuuming water out of the bilges and one under deck compartment we can reach. We weighed it again at exactly the same configuration two weeks ago and it only weighed 8000 pounds. It seems to have lost 400 pounds. We believe the holy sound, as we've bottom painted it carefully. And, after the last three dunking, the aft bilge is dry.
Evidence of water logging: 1. the previous owner repaired the starboard hull below the waterline toward the stern. In order to do that they cut a hole in the deck and dug out the Styrofoam. Put a deck plate over the hole, after effecting the fiberglass repair. It constantly has water in it. We have also taking the advice given here and removed and resealed all the deck plates. 2. Most of the time, when we are removing screwed in items or resetting screws, the holes weep or the sawdust made is damp.
What do we do, short of cutting up the deck, to attempt to dry the boat out further, to enable us to use it this season? If the below deck area was sitting full of water for 4 or five years, one can easily imagine that all the wood is waterlogged. We also have good evidence that every time it rains, despite obvious top side leaking areas, that water is getting down below deck. The deck itself has numerous hairline cracks and heaves that we plan to grind out and fill with fiberglass and cabs.
Hoping you guys can point us towards discussions we haven't been able to find, on this forum, Or, give us direct advice. We have seen some discussion around deck plate Solar vents. The boat also came with a diesel cabin heater. One of the thoughts being that instead of simply moving ambient air from the bow to the stern, that we can use flexible vent pipe to push hot air through the hull for drying purposes. Many of us wonder how the air is going to move to the cells that are closed off.
There has been talk about locating the various ribs and drilling low lying drain holes from the aft and under-cabin bilge, in the hope that the open cell foam. will drain. One other idea was to drill a small access holes, through the deck, toward the aft every under deck compartment, in order to get a slim PVC tube down through the foam to the hull and vacuum out the water.
Please pile on! We are looking for all the help we can get!
Thanks so much for sticking with us!
Here's the link to a folder containing our "in process" photos, if anyone's curious: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0lGRMtznGcovLN
Quick reminder, donated 1998 2520 with a seized 2007 Optimax 225. We cleaned up the boat, made some fiberglass repairs, repaired the engine endlessly, until clear of codes. Our last post was about how the boat wouldn't come up on plane, although the engine seemed to be making power. Well, we have finally got the engine to the place where it is running without coats, playing the boat, making 5500 RPMs. Seemingly running well. New or rebuilt: Rails tested, compression good, injectors cleaned, new oil tank, new fuel filters, new spark plugs, the tracker valve, new belt, rebuilt lower unit, new water fuel sensor, VST cleaned, use the Merck prop selector to stay focused on a three blade 15P prop, replaced an actuator on a bow plane.
Heres the problem: Boat will only make 20 knots, between 4500 RPMs and full RPMs.
Odds are we are left with the only other likely primary problem: the boat is waterlogged. And, we have some indications that point in that direction pretty convincingly:
Weight: after we first dunked the boat, we took it to a junkyard weigh in. The boat and trailer weighed in at approximately 8400 unladen, with what we estimate to be a 1850 pound trailer. Putting it way over any reasonable weight. Since then we have been working on the boat and keeping hatch covers and deck plates open, while we did other repairs. It is not in the water. And, we have been vacuuming water out of the bilges and one under deck compartment we can reach. We weighed it again at exactly the same configuration two weeks ago and it only weighed 8000 pounds. It seems to have lost 400 pounds. We believe the holy sound, as we've bottom painted it carefully. And, after the last three dunking, the aft bilge is dry.
Evidence of water logging: 1. the previous owner repaired the starboard hull below the waterline toward the stern. In order to do that they cut a hole in the deck and dug out the Styrofoam. Put a deck plate over the hole, after effecting the fiberglass repair. It constantly has water in it. We have also taking the advice given here and removed and resealed all the deck plates. 2. Most of the time, when we are removing screwed in items or resetting screws, the holes weep or the sawdust made is damp.
What do we do, short of cutting up the deck, to attempt to dry the boat out further, to enable us to use it this season? If the below deck area was sitting full of water for 4 or five years, one can easily imagine that all the wood is waterlogged. We also have good evidence that every time it rains, despite obvious top side leaking areas, that water is getting down below deck. The deck itself has numerous hairline cracks and heaves that we plan to grind out and fill with fiberglass and cabs.
Hoping you guys can point us towards discussions we haven't been able to find, on this forum, Or, give us direct advice. We have seen some discussion around deck plate Solar vents. The boat also came with a diesel cabin heater. One of the thoughts being that instead of simply moving ambient air from the bow to the stern, that we can use flexible vent pipe to push hot air through the hull for drying purposes. Many of us wonder how the air is going to move to the cells that are closed off.
There has been talk about locating the various ribs and drilling low lying drain holes from the aft and under-cabin bilge, in the hope that the open cell foam. will drain. One other idea was to drill a small access holes, through the deck, toward the aft every under deck compartment, in order to get a slim PVC tube down through the foam to the hull and vacuum out the water.
Please pile on! We are looking for all the help we can get!
Thanks so much for sticking with us!
Here's the link to a folder containing our "in process" photos, if anyone's curious: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0lGRMtznGcovLN
