Hull letting in water: needs urgent repair

[Catriona]

Hi all

 

Recently purchased first boat. No survey due to virus. 

 

Narrowboat was sitting on silted ground in water until recently when silt was cleared. Today began scraping off rust inside to paint the inside hull. Water is entering the hull fairly quick. Seems like it's coming from the welds. 

 

Two independent experienced boaters checked it today and are concerned it will sink if left. We turned off the battery and moved the bilge pump from sealed engine stern to aft cabin where the leak is. I'm moored in a Marina which is shut down and not yet operating post virus. They are not able to help lift out the water. The engine isn't running so can't motor elsewhere. Anyone know any way to get this boat out the water to be inspected and repaired? 

[WotEver]

Where are you?

[Catriona]

Good point. Springfield Marina, London. Will have battery on again to test the pump in approx 30 mins. 

[Tracy D'arth]

Get another battery, charge it off your car, swap with the one on the boat and repeat till you can get it lifted. Sleep with an arm out of bed, wet fingers mean its sinking.

If its so bad, it may collapse when lifted, just warning.

[bizzard]

Try and float a nappy under where the leak is. Vinyl sheet or polythene. It should suck onto the hole and block it. You would need to push it off the bank and poke the sheet under as for as pos with someone on the boat fishing for it on the other side. Also you might be able to stop the leak with a board with a load of goo on it. Place the board over the hole and put a heavy weight on it.

[bizzard]

Easiest to do the board thing inside. Get a couple of tubes of cheap silicone, you will really need the aplicator frame but not essential.  Gently sweep the loose rust away, smother all over and around the hole, plock the board down on it and pile heavy weights on it, bricks or whatever. Should do until its hauled out.

[ditchcrawler]

3 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Easiest to do the board thing inside. Get a couple of tubes of cheap silicone, you will really need the aplicator frame but not essential.  Gently sweep the loose rust away, smother all over and around the hole, plock the board down on it and pile heavy weights on it, bricks or whatever. Should do until its hauled out.

Even mastick on the board would do

[Tracy D'arth]

If you can find the hole, try forcing a silicone glue cartridge against it and pumping some through, it will set under water. Its no use tring to smear it inside , it needs to be injected through.

[ditchcrawler]

A boat on our moorings successfully stopped the boat sinking by filling a carrier bag with sand and laying that on the hole

Edited August 8, 2020 by ditchcrawler

[Catriona]

Looks like I'm due a swim. Planning on the nappy, the silicone injection, and the sandbag with constant battery vigilance on top. Thank you for your kind suggestions and for giving some hope! Tracy, thank you also for the painful warning. Will update, and likely ask more questions... 

 

Much appreciated 

Catriona

 

 

[mark99]

Ask/look if there is a really shallow place in the marina you can ram the boat into so if it sinks, it does not submerge. I just reread and saw the engine does not work. May need a tow or pole it onto shallows if they exist.

 

I saw this on a marina where an over plated Springer leaking really badly roared across the marina to a shallow bit and beached in the shallows. Quick thinking as this marina being an ex gravel pit was very deep where he was.

 

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by mark99

[Jen-in-Wellies]

59 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Try and float a nappy under where the leak is. Vinyl sheet or polythene. It should suck onto the hole and block it. You would need to push it off the bank and poke the sheet under as for as pos with someone on the boat fishing for it on the other side. Also you might be able to stop the leak with a board with a load of goo on it. Place the board over the hole and put a heavy weight on it.

On olden wooden sailing ships this was known as fothering. Sailors used to do it with cloth sails to keep themselves afloat until a proper repair could be made. A plastic sheet will work much better than a canvas sail. A tarpaulin from the likes of B&Q will have eyelets to tie cord in to help you position it under the leak.

Good luck.

Jen

 

[bizzard]

25 minutes ago, Catriona said:

Looks like I'm due a swim. Planning on the nappy, the silicone injection, and the sandbag with constant battery vigilance on top. Thank you for your kind suggestions and for giving some hope! Tracy, thank you also for the painful warning. Will update, and likely ask more questions... 

 

Much appreciated 

Catriona

 

 

Use a big nappy and haul it up on either side and secure.

[Tracy D'arth]

9 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Use a big nappy and haul it up on either side and secure.

Its naughty but if you heavily grease the nappy it will seal better. The pollution thus caused will be less than if it goes under...............

[roland elsdon]

If it is seeping not spurting get a bag of ready mixed cement, cut small hole open  and lay cut side down on the leak.

if you can find the hole milliput from model shops works under water.

Ive done both.

Do not scrape your boat in the water. I’ve made that mistake as well, more than once

Edited August 8, 2020 by roland elsdon
Unfin

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, bizzard said:

Also you might be able to stop the leak with a board with a load of goo on it. Place the board over the hole and put a heavy weight on it.

A lump of puddle clay over the leak, with a few bricks on top is the traditional version of this.

[Clanky]

https://spillshop.co.uk/plugging-and-dykeing-granules.html

[Catriona]

Thank you again for your advice and quick responses. We greased and nappied and, good news, the water is no longer coming through. And it looks like we found the spot (the sorry picture is attached). 

 

Next up, milliput. Is it worth treating the rust before applying the milliput or are we kidding ourselves it would make a difference? 

 

We were glad of the sunny and calm weather yesterday when wrapping the hull. Those who manage to do that on the high seas are incredibly brave!

 

Sincere thanks

Catriona 

[Alan de Enfield]

Just be very careful not to get lulled into a false sense of security, any repair except lifting out and having a new bottom (or part of) welded on is going to be a temporary repair, some temporary repairs may last 24 hours and some a week, but, you should now take urgent action to get it lifted and a proper fix done. 

 

It'd be a pretty sure bet that the metal surrounding the leak is paper thin.

 

If you don't, next week the leak may be bigger as you have been 'poking about' and removed some rust which was possibly stopping the dribble becoming a flood.

 

I'm sure we have all done a 'temporary repair to something and then forgotten to do the job properly, the difference with a boat with a hole in it is that you may wake up one morning to find the boat is full of water.

[Naughty Cal]

Agree with Alan. That boat needs lifting out ASAP and inspecting. 

 

Worth bearing in mind also that lifting a fragile hull can cause more damage in itself. 

 

Getting it ashore and fixing it now will be a damn sight cheaper than waiting until it sinks and trying to sort out that sorry mess!

[dmr]

Its very hard to assess rust, especially from a photo. I was bilge derusting yesterday, it looked unpleasant but it just scraped off easily revealing almost perfect steel underneath. In your case it looks potentially bad and so you need to get it looked at urgently by somebody who knows their stuff. Do this before lifting the boat. Once the boat is lifted you can be locked in to a boat yard timescale and prices. My concern is that not only has the base plate gone but some of the strengthening sections are also compromised. I fear you should get prepared for not good news. There are a few people on this forum who can give you good advice once you know the extent of the problem.

 

.....................Dave

[Sea Dog]

Remember that surveyor you didn't use due to the virus? Do you still have his number?  Once you're out of the water, you are going to need independent professional advice: that is to say someone skilled who is representing you, not any particular potential repairer.

 

You probably feel terrible right now, but you're not the first and you'll definitely be far from the last to buy a boat and find something like this. Good luck - I hope you find it's not as bad as it seems. 

[jacko264]

I work with steel a lot in my job and looking at the photo that looks bad sorry  I bet if you hit it with a hammer a hole would appear 

I would not try this with the boat in the cut

Graham 

[koukouvagia]

Be very careful about poking around when the hull is in that state.

On a surveyor's advice, I began to knock off some of the rust on our boat.  It sprang a small leak which I temporarily staunched with epoxy putty, but what started out as a small hole resulted in a large area of the back end of the boat having to be rebuilt.