removing ballast-hardstanding necessary?

[sevey]

Hello there,

I have just bought a narrowboat that needs drying out- there are little puddles inside her hull amongst the ballast. I have a water vacuum but need to get the ballast out first. I have been told it is necessary to take her out of the water to prevent her tipping over but the dude at the boatyard says this is uneccessary.

Help! Who do I trust! Thanks

[RLWP]

It really isn't necessary to take the ballast out. One warm day and all the water will evaporate

 

Richard

[Keeping Up]

If you can blow air through the bilge, from one end to the other, it will surely dry out. When our bilge got filled with fresh water, after pumping out as much as possible I used a fan heater (set to "fan only", no heating) and fashioned some trunking from a bin bag and some maskng tape, to blow into the inspection hatch at the rear of the floor. It took about three days to dry out.

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

you will find that the water returns. Condensation on the steel hull runs into the bilges. You need an impermeable barrier between the warm air in the boat and the cold of the steel hull. Vapor seeps through wooden lining. Are all the water pipes and wast pipes watertight?

Most boats have some water in the bilges also check the stern tube which should not drip when still. You can take out ballast and when you cruise the boat it will be tender i.e. will wobble from side to side, Unless you have a lot of weight on the roof you will have no problem in temporally removing some ballast.

[grahame r]

Just how much water is in the bilge?

The boat should lie in a bow-up position irrespective of how full the the water tank (at front?) or Diesel Tank (at rear?) are ie even with full water and empty diesel. If this is the case then any water in the bilge will flow to the back.

Are you looking into the bilge at the very back (engine compartment) or is there a bulkhead and inspection hatch just in front of this? Presumably it's the latter as you're looking at the ballast, if so you will only see a small area of ballast where the water has flowed to and it will look a lot worse than it actualy is. If this is the case then you will only need to remove a small amount of ballast and hoover out the water. Then check again after a few days to get an idea of how much water is accumulating.

Having done this you can then start to think about where it's coming from and how to stop it re-occuring.

[blackrose]

My experience is that water can stay under ballast for quite a long time if the ballast is laying directly on the baseplate or on bitumen soaked cloth. If you have access I'd get the ballast up dry the bilge out and lay the ballast back down on something (lengths of cable, strips of plastic, hardwood, etc) that will lift it slightly off the baseplate. Do it section by section rather than all in one go. Raising the ballast off the baseplate will facilitate drying out next time it gets wet under there. If you don't have access then just dry out what you can at the stern and leave the rest to evaporation and time.

Edited January 10, 2013 by blackrose

[bizzard]

Next time your boat is raised up in dry dock you could light a bonfire beneath it to speed up the drying.

This is how they thawed out steam railway loco's motion parts when it all iced up and froze solid.

[Ally]

What kind of ballast do you have?

Assuming blocks, not gravel or anything horrible, just remove one section at a time and dry each section out, starting at the bow, as that is likely to be higher than the stern. Mop up, dry out, replace ballast, start next section....try and get the ballast as dry as you can too....pop it out in all this lovely sunshine we have!!

[sevey]

That is all very helpful indeed, thank you so much!

[Machpoint005]

Next time your boat is raised up in dry dock you could light a bonfire beneath it to speed up the drying. This is how they thawed out steam railway loco's motion parts when it all iced up and froze solid.

This is definitely not a good idea for all sorts of reasons that a few moments of careful thought will reveal.

[bizzard]

That is all very helpful indeed, thank you so much!

Your welcome but keep the bonfire under supervision though.

[Machpoint005]

QED

[sevey]

That is all very helpful indeed, thank you so much!

It's paving slabs... so not too horrendous to move, with a few hands on the job it should be ok. It's a good idea to do it in stages. The whole floor is up anyway, as the survey I had found damp and we couldn't tell what was happening so up came the floor. And there are puddles all over, the condensation has made even the walls damp. I'm rebuilding it with inspection hatches, marine ply/chip then oak floorboards. Thanks again...

[STUBAG]

It's paving slabs... so not too horrendous to move, with a few hands on the job it should be ok. It's a good idea to do it in stages. The whole floor is up anyway, as the survey I had found damp and we couldn't tell what was happening so up came the floor. And there are puddles all over, the condensation has made even the walls damp. I'm rebuilding it with inspection hatches, marine ply/chip then oak floorboards. Thanks again...

DO NOT use chip-board for ANYTHING in a boat. It will soon resemble a piece of soggy blotting paper!

[sevey]

DO NOT use chip-board for ANYTHING in a boat. It will soon resemble a piece of soggy blotting paper!

Even marine chip?

[STUBAG]

Even marine chip?

Yep! Spoken from experience.

[HappyBunny]

Hmmm I have read this, and other related threads, with interest as i also have a wet bottom (fnerk) after a leaky water pump incident and problems with windows .... and I in denial, ignoring it, hoping it will go away ...

 

So I made a sort of inspection hatch, in the middle of the boat, and have got the worst of the water out but it is still damp. I have enormous paving slabs as ballast sitting directly on the base plate.

 

My concern is that the base plate looks very rusty and I am worried that the boat is slowly rotting from the inside out.

 

Do I need to lift the whole floor, and ballast, in sections hopefully, and apply something to inhibit the rust when it is dry?

 

If so, what product should I use?

 

I am dreading having to dismantle the kitchen and shower room, and hoping I can maybe ease the slabs out? although that would mean I couldn't put anything under the ballast when I reinstate .....

 

Any advice welcome

[sevey]

Yep! Spoken from experience.

ok.. ply it is. thanks!

[Tam & Di]

So I made a sort of inspection hatch, in the middle of the boat, and have got the worst of the water out but it is still damp. I have enormous paving slabs as ballast sitting directly on the base plate.

 

My concern is that the base plate looks very rusty and I am worried that the boat is slowly rotting from the inside out.

 

Do I need to lift the whole floor, and ballast, in sections hopefully, and apply something to inhibit the rust when it is dry?

 

I'm sure there will be old threads on this, but it is definitely not good to have slabs sat directly on the boat's bottom as there will always be damp between the layers. Best (but lots of work) would be to remove them, in sections as you say, treat the rust in some manner (several options, but I'd prefer a rust convertor of some kind - our barge is greased with a special type of grease, but that is not common with narrow boats) then replace the slabs with the bottom one resting on plastic strips of some nature (plastic tube? old hosepipe?) that would keep it slightly raised and allow any subsequent condensation to dry out easily.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Tam & Di

[Bee]

I would just add that if you are doing a big refit and the boat is insulated with fibreglass wool that has gone soggy it would be a good idea to sprayfoam it.

[sevey]

ok.. ply it is. thanks!

Is marine ply still necessary if I have 1 inch thick oak floorboards?

[bizzard]

Is marine ply still necessary if I have 1 inch thick oak floorboards?

Cheap shuttering ply is fine, just make sure that you seal the underside and edges. Hull bitumen painted on is good for this.

Edited January 11, 2013 by bizzard

[HappyBunny]

I'm sure there will be old threads on this, but it is definitely not good to have slabs sat directly on the boat's bottom as there will always be damp between the layers. Best (but lots of work) would be to remove them, in sections as you say, treat the rust in some manner (several options, but I'd prefer a rust convertor of some kind - our barge is greased with a special type of grease, but that is not common with narrow boats) then replace the slabs with the bottom one resting on plastic strips of some nature (plastic tube? old hosepipe?) that would keep it slightly raised and allow any subsequent condensation to dry out easily.

 

Hmmm I guessed it would be best to have the whole lot up something to look forward to when it gets a bit warmer.

 

Thanks, ahy suggestions for the best / most economical rust converter to use?

 

[David Schweizer]

you will find that the water returns. Condensation on the steel hull runs into the bilges. You need an impermeable barrier between the warm air in the boat and the cold of the steel hull. Vapor seeps through wooden lining. Are all the water pipes and wast pipes watertight?

Most boats have some water in the bilges also check the stern tube which should not drip when still. You can take out ballast and when you cruise the boat it will be tender i.e. will wobble from side to side, Unless you have a lot of weight on the roof you will have no problem in temporally removing some ballast.

Hmmm! that is an interesting assertion, I would have said that most all steel boats do not have water in the bilges, ours certainly doesn't, not even in the stern gland bilge!