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Water leak, how to dry out under floor/hull??


Bubbs

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So we had the unfortunate occurrence of a slow leak from our fresh water tank. We have syphoned off 80L or so, have replaced the tank with water bladders. we don't have a hull bilge.

 

but now we need to dry out the hull/under floor.

 

 

we have an industrial blower (no heating element) and positioned it at the bow of the boat, just under the floor. Turned it on, hoping to find air coming our at the stern (we lifted off some floor at the stern) but it was a FAIL. we think there must be cross beams blocking the air flow. so now we are looking at taking the bathroom (mid boat) section of floor out and blowing under there...

 

does any one have any hints at all? are we going about this the wrong way to begin with?

 

do we need to gut the whole boat?????

will we rust from the inside out????

 

HELP!!!

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So we had the unfortunate occurrence of a slow leak from our fresh water tank. We have syphoned off 80L or so, have replaced the tank with water bladders. we don't have a hull bilge.

 

but now we need to dry out the hull/under floor.

 

 

we have an industrial blower (no heating element) and positioned it at the bow of the boat, just under the floor. Turned it on, hoping to find air coming our at the stern (we lifted off some floor at the stern) but it was a FAIL. we think there must be cross beams blocking the air flow. so now we are looking at taking the bathroom (mid boat) section of floor out and blowing under there...

 

does any one have any hints at all? are we going about this the wrong way to begin with?

 

do we need to gut the whole boat?????

will we rust from the inside out????

 

HELP!!!

Wet vac through drilled holes in wooden floor at various locations.

Disposable nappies are good if you can get them under somewhere.

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So we had the unfortunate occurrence of a slow leak from our fresh water tank. We have syphoned off 80L or so, have replaced the tank with water bladders. we don't have a hull bilge.

 

but now we need to dry out the hull/under floor.

 

 

we have an industrial blower (no heating element) and positioned it at the bow of the boat, just under the floor. Turned it on, hoping to find air coming our at the stern (we lifted off some floor at the stern) but it was a FAIL. we think there must be cross beams blocking the air flow. so now we are looking at taking the bathroom (mid boat) section of floor out and blowing under there...

 

does any one have any hints at all? are we going about this the wrong way to begin with?

 

do we need to gut the whole boat?????

will we rust from the inside out????

 

HELP!!!

. If you have a stove keep it going, it's one of the best things I find, I get a bit of rain water in my bilge,if I have not been to the boat for a few weeks and we have had wind and rain, I have a small trap door just in front of my fire, I pump out the worst of it with a manual pump, then use a sponge for the last bit, then I just open the little door and keep the fire on, it's normally bone dry in a few hours,
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Inspection holes and a wet and dry vac are probably the best approach.

If you've got a lot of ballast - slabs etc. the water will take ages to trickle to the lowest point. When I had a similar leak it took about three weeks before I'd sucked up the last of the water. The water never seems to stop and you think you've sprung a leak.

As for rusting - if you've got a reasonable covering of bilge paint or bitumen etc. you'll be OK.

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has anyone had to use a blower? we have bilged and kittylitter-pantyhose most of the moisture up. (its been two months)

 

but the floor at the stern (under our bed) is wet to touch and rotting..... :/

 

 

do i need a blower with heat perhaps to get heat down that end as our stove is in the bow?

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Had this happen recently, bilge pump followed buy wet vac, followed buy fan blowing cool air through bilge, followed buy puppy training pads rolled up and fed down the access hole to absorb the rest. (Don't leave them in longer than 12 hours though). And finally the fire on full chat. , ( that was with 350 litres of water due to a split Calorifier).

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has anyone had to use a blower? we have bilged and kittylitter-pantyhose most of the moisture up. (its been two months)

 

but the floor at the stern (under our bed) is wet to touch and rotting..... :/

 

 

do i need a blower with heat perhaps to get heat down that end as our stove is in the bow?

When I had similar problems I mada a ducting with gaffer tape and corn flakes boxes (in true Blue Peter tradition) and ducted cold air under the floor with a big 12Volt fan. This dried it out. I have never tried warmair, but do wonder if this would provide further condensation on the cold bottom plate?

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I used a couple of the super absorbant car sponges from Halfords, they remove a fair bit of water and can be reused again and agan and take up every last drop.

 

Other than that if you're stuck then newspaper is very absorbant but if you've got a lot of water then this may not be practical (unless you've got loads of newspaper of course)

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Bear in mind that your floor will not be fitted tight to the sides of the boat. When you blow air underneath the floor from the front there will be a leakage of pressure all the way down the boat, so don't expect too much to be finding its way to the back. I would advise drying the baseplate out as much as you can at the rear of the cabin with sponges etc. as has been stated. Then concentrate the blower there. Provided you have no more leaks it will gradually dry out and stay dry but don't expect quick results at this time of year.

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suppose can't expect quick results, but at the same time, its been moist for 2 months now...

 

thanks for the tips/advice.we will just cut hole/s further down the way, and blow blow away....

 

been quite worried about it, but none of you seem to be too much so feeling better about it all! :)

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been quite worried about it, but none of you seem to be too much so feeling better about it all! smile.png

 

That's a great result. It will go away - unless you still have a leak of course

 

Have you still got a leak?

 

Richard

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Dehumidifier is the only way to go, if you can power an industrial blower you can power a dehumidifier. Meaco are the best but get the 12L or 20L both use about a third of the power of the DD8L and do the same job. Why the least energy efficient model in the range is also the most applauded is a mystery, but either way it will shift about 10 or more litres of moisture from the air every 24 hours.

A dehumidifier will take the moisture out of everything in no time at all.

K

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Cabin bilges often get damp in winter from condensation. The boat should slope towards the stern so normal practice is to have a hole right at the back. 4" diameter is enough. If you use a hole saw, keep the plug and glue it to a slightly larger piece of ply to make a plug for the hole.

 

Water will trickle back slowly, so suck it out every few days. Then what I did after a flood was left a 0.1A computer fan over the hole drawing air through. Left it running continuously for four days. After that didn't see any more damp (this was summer). In a month or so it will probably get slightly damp again on and off over the winter but will dry out on its own. If air can get in to feed the condensation, it can get out again.

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Baseplate had several slow leaks (shower and pump from main tank) before I moved on and the bathroom floor was completely rotten and soft to the touch. I was advised during the survey (and did) to take up the floor completely in that section of the boat and have it wet-vacced out, treated with rust converter and painted with bilge paint.

 

When the new floor was laid, I got them to leave a section at the stern end of the boat that could be lifted out to inspect the cabin bilge. It's been dry since.

 

I'm not sure it is possible to rescue wood once it gets past a certain stage of wet and rotting? A dehumidifier could dry things out to the point that the fungus is killed off, but surely the structural integrity of the wood will still be compromised? I know you probably want to avoid taking up the floor, especially in your bedroom, but might that be an option if things are still damp after months?

Edited by pipistrelle
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