Wet Deck Drains - 1987 C34

[Ceilidh II]

3rd season with 1987 C34 (hull 388), re-bedded all stanchions and having to re-bed them in particular those near deck drains. Upon taking them off I noticed the drains were patched on the inside of boat by one of the previous owners. On further examination it appears the drains themselves are not sealed and so the core is quite wet. I am having some one with a moisture meter take readings particularly going down the hull. I can see the damage on the deck from removing the stanchions. It appears previous owners also just kept tightening the stanchions so decking at the bolts is very thin.

That is my situation and now my question is has anyone else found problems with the deck drains and did moisture creep into the hull below and what was the resulting repair. The deck portion I know what to do, the hull portion does concern me slightly. Any thoughts would be helpful.
David

[Ted Pounds]

The deck drains have no core below them.  In fact they have no glass fiber reinforcing them (At least mine didn't) and they are easily cracked.  That the problem I had with mine - they cracked and water leaked from the one above the aft cabin.  My solution was to use epoxy and glass to reinforce them.

Water wicking into the core from poorly bedded stanchions may be a separate problem...

[Stu Jackson]

Also consider that they are above the hull to deck joint.  As Ted said, they may not have been "coated" and just had "raw" glass, although mine seem to have gelcoat on them.

An old C42 "trick" to avoid having dirt stains below the discharge was to glue in some clear hose in the holes and have the hoses about 1/2" to 1" out so the water didn't run down the side of the hull.  My preference was to simplify that by just keeping the little drain areas clean.

Check to see if you need to "coat" the penetrations.  I doubt if anything got into your hull material from those holes because the way the joint appears to have been built.  More would have come in from the stanchion base than those holes, I believe.

Good luck.

[Ron Hill]

David : I don't believe that those holes can let moisture into the core as they appear to be thru solid glass.

I have had some of the gelcoat in the drain wells that has chipped off and I patched the chips with gelcoat.  I placed pieces of hose (3") in them so the dirty rain water doesn't make streaks down the sides of the hull.

A few thoughts