Hull leak after drilling mistake

[chris95040]

You aren’t going to haul out until you find a marina that will also do the repair?

Just haul the boat, you are already doing half assed repairs, try it in a scenario where you might actually succeed.

You accidentally drilled a hole in your hull dude. While in the water.

Haul out, take a deep breath and think for a second.

[secrabtree]

Originally Posted by geekoman

Small projects becoming big projects is not fun!

Nor unusual!

[Seacod]

Hope you got it patched. I keep underwater epoxy, waterproof tape and several larger pieces of neoprene rubber roofing on board for such things also a few odd sized pieces of 1/4 marine ply. Dont be mixing incompatible materials in a hurry to "do" something...the use of the wax renders everything else useless thereafter until the area is dewaxed etc. Try to avoid hasty choices that limit your later options!
Good luck, SeaCod

[US1Fountain]

Is there a chance this hull is cored where the issue is and would be allowing water to soak in if the repair is being addressed from the inside only?

[chris95040]

Originally Posted by preventec47

If you are still looking for the hole from the outside, ...With the smallest drill bit ... say 1/16th" drill a hole through to the outside whereby you can quickly insert a small nail...

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Yeah drill some more holes!!!

[vyc2014]

I would suggest the West Marine Expoxy stick that is a clay looking tube that has two parts built in. You cut off a small piece and kneed it for 20 seconds and jump in the water and stuff it in the new hole. It'll dry underwater.

I bought a boat with a SS screw just in front of the engine in the bilge. The seller slapped his head and said "Don't take that out. My knucklehead brother-in-law saw some water there and decided to drill a hole to drain it..."

[SouthernPride]

Summit North Marina,
Bear Delaware
Off the canal.
I am there, their crane can handle 75 tons, short haul, long haul, quiet place, not great looking but works for me, 53' Hatteras MYC
Good luck.
Great guy working with me right now.
Dave 3028243973

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by hpeer

...you won’t appreciate this now but, some day, at a bar, you will tell this story and receive tons of guy empathy...

Many years ago I was working on our boat (an Albin Vega) and to improve ventilation to the underside of the berth cushions, I got a hole saw and drilled loads of 3/4" diameter holes through the solid plywood bunk bases; I spent almost all day on the job, but was pleased with the result and related what I'd been doing in the bar that evening. Another guy there reported suffering similar condensation problems, was taken with the idea and arranged to borrow my hole-cutter the following day to do the same on his boat.

The hole-cutter was one of those with a pilot-bit in the centre, projecting perhaps an inch and a half beyond the cutting blade but has he seemed sensible and competent, I hadn't thought it necessary to mention that he ought to be careful whenever he was working at the bunk outer edges, close to the hull - I'd made sure there was a metal plate below those holes, 'just in case' when drilling mine.

His yacht must've been sat close to 100m away from ours in the yard, but I and everyone else in there heard the scream of horror followed by a string of swearing at around 2:30pm that afternoon. One or even two would've been bad enough, but the chap'd punched twenty-six 6mm holes through his boat's hull before he spotted his mistake. Actually, he hadn't spotted it even then, it was someone else walking past the boat who saw the drill bit appear through the hull and banged on the boat to let him know.

Repairing them actually wasn't too difficult, but that was more than fifteen years ago and he still gets reminded of the incident.

[gulfislandfred]

It's hard to get a good seal inside, because the water coming in (hydraulic pressure) wants to push you patch material out of the hole.


I don't agree with the alarmists who say you MUST haul out, but that's the eventual fix.


I do think you need to really get the area around the hole open and accessible from the inside. You will have to do that for your eventual repair, anyway.


If you can stop the leak from inside, you can sand the glass a bit, (get all that toilet gasket wax off the glass) and apply some marine tex. I would normally recommend less expensive generics, but you don't need much of it, and marine tex really sticks and hardens to wet, even underwater.



If the marine tex hardens, and the leak stops, sand again, and lay down 5 layers of glass cloth in epoxy resin. start with a layer that's an inch bigger than the damage, and make each layer an inch bigger. You need the final patch to be four inches bigger than the damage. You can use a hair dryer to help the resin flow (if it's just epoxy resin, not git rot, or other thinned resin. Be careful! Do not use heat with with any styrene resin!!)


That will get you through the winter. To do a proper repair, at haul out, you should grind out the damage, and put another 5 cloths in epoxy, in the ground out part, smooth with epoxy filler, and you're better than new.


Most of us will just grind a bit, fill with epoxy putty, and go on our way. That includes me, unless it's a customers boat, or newer, nicer, and worth the extra effort.


The reason to grind out the damage is that if you later hit a rock, or collide with something, the damaged glass is more likely to tear along the already torn cloth/roving. If the tear is ground out and glassed with proper overlap, it will not tear as easily.

[Souzag818]

Originally Posted by gulfislandfred

It's hard to get a good seal inside, because the water coming in (hydraulic pressure) wants to push you patch material out of the hole.


I don't agree with the alarmists who say you MUST haul out, but that's the eventual fix.


I do think you need to really get the area around the hole open and accessible from the inside. You will have to do that for your eventual repair, anyway.


If you can stop the leak from inside, you can sand the glass a bit, (get all that toilet gasket wax off the glass) and apply some marine tex. I would normally recommend less expensive generics, but you don't need much of it, and marine tex really sticks and hardens to wet, even underwater.



If the marine tex hardens, and the leak stops, sand again, and lay down 5 layers of glass cloth in epoxy resin. start with a layer that's an inch bigger than the damage, and make each layer an inch bigger. You need the final patch to be four inches bigger than the damage. You can use a hair dryer to help the resin flow (if it's just epoxy resin, not git rot, or other thinned resin. Be careful! Do not use heat with with any styrene resin!!)


That will get you through the winter. To do a proper repair, at haul out, you should grind out the damage, and put another 5 cloths in epoxy, in the ground out part, smooth with epoxy filler, and you're better than new.


Most of us will just grind a bit, fill with epoxy putty, and go on our way. That includes me, unless it's a customers boat, or newer, nicer, and worth the extra effort.


The reason to grind out the damage is that if you later hit a rock, or collide with something, the damaged glass is more likely to tear along the already torn cloth/roving. If the tear is ground out and glassed with proper overlap, it will not tear as easily.

FYI, Gougeon Brothers, the makers of West Systems epoxy, recommend putting the largest layer of fiberglass on the beveled area, first. Then progressively smaller pieces of fiberglass, rather than putting on the smallest piece first and larger pieces next. Reasoning being as you grind away to fair it the bigger pieces remain more intact. That's how I've always done it.

[sona1111]

Okay, so the conversation here seemed to have gone on much longer than I realized, and I completely forgot about it. Looking back at my posts for another reason, I thought I would let you all know what happened for closure, etc.

To the many posts recommending that I haul without having a way to repair, etc. In my situation, I am actually a liveaboard there, and my work is there, etc, so it was a little bit more of a consideration at the time.

Anyway, what I ended up doing was taking a very powerful flashlight and shining from the inside of the boat out of the leak area. Then I swam out and put a good amount of the "stay afloat" wax overtop of it. This was enough to keep out water for a short term. I fully dried the area inside, did a quick sanding, and filled it in with a large amount of "Marine-Tex" epoxy. This lasted fine until the next summer, when I was able to get down to Delaware City Marina as recommended, and they were very helpful.

Not saying this is the best advice, just documenting how it went for me.

Thanks everyone in any case for all of the feedback.

[Pegu Club]

Dude, feel your pain, we hit the damn Reedy island dike a couple years ago, we hauled out at Delaware city marina the were helpful.

Fair winds,

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by sona1111

Hi All, looking for advice or sympathy if possible!

I was using a hole saw to make a way for my diesel heater exhaust. A prior owner had already made the hole that I was thinking of using, but directly behind it was a piece of protruding wood that I needed to clear off to have enough clearance. I was drilling from a quarterberth horizontally backwards to a space under the icebox. Seemingly, I did not keep the angle exactly proper, because shortly after this while looking through my endoscope camera I was able to see water dripping. I am guessing I nicked the fiberglass with the edge of the hole saw.

Anyway the leak was pretty bad at first, bilge pump was more than able to keep up but it had to run pretty often. In a panic I cut out a large hole in the base of the cabinet in front and pressed in a large amount of plumber putty, and then 'stay afloat' (another putty) after my neighbor gave me some. I was not able to seal off the leak completely, partially because I am pressing blind and very far back behind the hole I cut. The neighbor also lent me a wetsuit, but after trying for as long as I could stand I could not find the hole from outside.

All of today I have been calling Marinas in the area (I am docked currently at Pier 3 Philadelphia). Curtin's Wharf, Neshaminy State, Dredge Harbor, Clarks Landing, Riverside Marina, G winters sailing center - they have all denied me for various reasons to do the repair.

My last resort idea is to try to rip up all of the cabinetry and the fridge around the area, so that I can attempt a better fix from the inside. I have been trying to today, but I am stuck trying to remove the fridge itself, it seems like it is stuck on with expanding foam or something. Pictures below of the progress I have made so far.

I am looking for any possible suggestions here that I can try, or suggestions of a marina which could help me, as I am getting rather depressed.

(vessel: bayfield 29c)

Thanks for reading.

I think the marinas may have not wanted to "do the repair". It could sound like a big job to get the cabinetry out of the way and then do the repair.

Further, if it is just a "nick" I'm surprised you have a leak. Generally the hull should be thick enough to withstand a "nick".

Even if you get the boat hauled it may be hard to find the leak outside (the torch trick might be good).

So if I was faced with this, I'd rip out enough cabinetry myself to fully expose the location of the damage. Then with the areas exposed so you can get full access to it, arrange a haul out. You can tell them you need 24 hours in the stands or in a sling, that's all it will take.

Once the boat is out you drill a hole from the inside, you only need a small hole say 1/4 ".

Then from the outside you enlarge the hole so it is a shallow pit and put in some thickened epoxy. Once filled you can cover it with some mylar film (brown packing tape works well, shiny side against the epoxy) and pressed agains the repair to make it flush and smooth. When the epoxy sets remove the mylar and you will have a smooth spot which will last forever. And and repair the damaged area inside once it is dry.

This is how I repaired my hull when I drilled a hole through the side in the back of the chart table when running a consuit for some wires. (Luckily my hole was above the waterline until I was heeled over. we discovered it after about 30 minutes on port tack. Whne we tacked to starboard the seawater poured out of the chart table like a waterfall. My guest asked if that was supposed to do that?)

Be sure you use the correct hardener so your epoxy sets in the cold weather.

[hlev00]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

If you can calculate roughly where the hole is on the outside of the hull, I would for a very temporary repair try using a plunger to stop the leak. It covers a decent sized area and through a little trial and error to find the hole it will stop the inflow of water until you can come up with a more permanent solution. If nothing else it can help you narrow down the area where the hole is.

How will a plunger stop the leak? Even if the plunger cup creates a strong seal around the hole, the plunger cup will simply expand as the leak allows water or air in, and eventually fall off once the pressure is equalized. Or maybe I am misunderstanding the method.

[scfoster]

Originally Posted by sona1111

I was able to get down to Delaware City Marina as recommended, and they were very helpful.

Glad Delaware City worked out for you. They're pretty good about self directed repairs.