Drilled through the gunnel this weekend to install a couple swivel rod holders. Plywood was saturated at both locations. Bummer! Suspect the nearby 4 bolt holes for downrigger mounts to be the source. The downrigger mounts were installed with no sealant on the base or bolt holes. Overdrilled the holes so that I could fill them with epoxy and pulled up wet wood. Pulled the nearby hawse pipe (words I have never used!, had to look up what it is called - oval stainless insert that allows rope to go through the gunnel to a cleat mounted under the gunnel) to see how far the saturation spread. The hawse pipe is located approximately 6" from the saturated hole and the wood is bone dry at this location. The attached picture shows the area I am talking about.
Question - what to do now? I have a couple high volume fans blowing air through the battery hatches in the transom. How long? Can't imagine the wood will ever dry completely. How bad is it if the wood never dries? Was planning on coating the surface of the rod holder hole with epoxy. I assume it won't "stick" to wet wood?
The location where the gunnel is saturated is within the area in the transom accessed through two hatches. Long term I was thinking about drilling a bunch of small diameter holes up from under the gunnel that just pierce the bottom gel coat to allow the wood to breath. Since it is in the transom compartment, the holes will never be exposed to water. After a period of time (6 months?), I would drill a little deeper into the wood layer to see if it had dried out. Thoughts?
Question - what to do now? I have a couple high volume fans blowing air through the battery hatches in the transom. How long? Can't imagine the wood will ever dry completely. How bad is it if the wood never dries? Was planning on coating the surface of the rod holder hole with epoxy. I assume it won't "stick" to wet wood?
The location where the gunnel is saturated is within the area in the transom accessed through two hatches. Long term I was thinking about drilling a bunch of small diameter holes up from under the gunnel that just pierce the bottom gel coat to allow the wood to breath. Since it is in the transom compartment, the holes will never be exposed to water. After a period of time (6 months?), I would drill a little deeper into the wood layer to see if it had dried out. Thoughts?
