Leaking diesel/water fill plates

[ttex]

Howdy ya'll,

First project on our new boat is finding and fixing leaks.

Our major leak is around our diesel and water deck fill plates.

This leak has been going on for years and the wood is rotting pretty bad down in the area where the water has been running down the bulkhead. We found and pulled out most of the rot this weekend while I removed the 1 1/2 inch rubber hose from the fill plates and pried them out.

The deck is teak, core, fiberglass. I am planning to cut a rectangle out down to the fiberglass as wide as is necessary to get solid core on the edges. After prepping I will fill the rectangle with epoxy, cut two new deck fill holes and then seal the new deck fill plates to the epoxy.

I have tons of experience fixing leaks in swimming pools so I have some transferable skillsets.

Is this a good plan?

Thanks for any help!

[zeehag]

new O rings help a lot.
bedding compound to install em....
my fuel fill leaked we fixed with o ring and bedding....
have fun.

[rbk]

If you not planning on re-doing the deck anytime soon I would just ream out the core around the hole tape the inside (or a block of wood wrapped in cellophane fastened to the underside) and flood with epoxy then re-drill the hole. If you cut a rectangle/square out plan on re-doing most of your deck as you’ll have a very hard time matching the topside finish and possible chasing soft core all over the boat. As mentioned re-bed the fitting, new o ring, new fill pipes and a good time to add shut offs on the fill pipes while you’re in there.

[ttex]

I like the idea of going under the teak with the epoxy.

There were no orings under the fittings. Likely just disintegrated long ago.

The reason I was thinking of removing the teak in a rectangle is because I am not sure I can get an oring to seal against the uneven surface of old teak. I suppose if used with bedding compound and pressure it would fill in around.

Thanks, ya'll gave me some new things to think about.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by ttex

I like the idea of going under the teak with the epoxy.

There were no orings under the fittings. Likely just disintegrated long ago.

The reason I was thinking of removing the teak in a rectangle is because I am not sure I can get an oring to seal against the uneven surface of old teak. I suppose if used with bedding compound and pressure it would fill in around.

Thanks, ya'll gave me some new things to think about.

O ring goes inside the fill plate cover (part you unscrew to fill), not under the fill plate flange to deck. To re-seal the fitting to the deck butyl works well in this application.

[rbk]

Chances are you have teak deck, fibreglass, core material, fibreglass. Sealing the core in the thru hull column is key.

[ttex]

That makes a lot more sense. Thanks again.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by rbk

Chances are you have teak deck, fibreglass, core material, fibreglass. Sealing the core in the thru hull column is key.

If you have room under that area I'd cut that glass skin out as neatly as possible.
Then remove the coring, you'll see the underside of the deck skin.

Dry well with heat gun or lite, clean it up abit with acetone, then coat on one side, a piece of coring or what your using for coring with a bit of thickened epoxy and push it up into the opening, secure this tightly and allow this to cure.

Then replace the piece you carefully cut out, and epoxy into place.
You can then use the same holes to mount and secure your deck fills.
This way you don't disturb the upper teak deck and still get a solid surface to screw or thrubolt the hardware.
Definitely bed in the hardware, liberal application of 4200 3m.
It should squeeze out abit from the edges.

If you don't have room under the deck to work, then there are other ways to address this problem without to much disturbance to the teak.
Good luck
SV Cloud Duster

[ttex]

I absolutely have room underneath to do what you propose.

[boatpoker]

from the underside - drill a few shallow test holes around the fitting. If the core is wet and or rotten, you will see it on your drill bit. The decayed core likely has spread much further out than you expect.

A job like this often becomes a "where do I stop" proposition.

[ttex]

The rotten core goes back underneath as far as my finger and beyond presumably.

You should see the rot we pulled out from the bulkhead next to the fill hoses. It was pretty gnarly.

My wife is documenting everything with her camera so I should have a video of this at some point and I will show ya'll how it went.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

from the underside - drill a few shallow test holes around the fitting. If the core is wet and or rotten, you will see it on your drill bit. The decayed core likely has spread much further out than you expect.



A job like this often becomes a "where do I stop" proposition.

Been there done that. Worse part of boating. You often are far away from whatever project you started on.

[ttex]

I honestly enjoy stuff like this. Working hard and then stepping back to look at all you accomplished is what I live for.

Now when the problems stop you from using the boat you paid for.....well....I can see that being quite annoying.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by ttex

Now when the problems stop you from using the boat you paid for.....well....I can see that being quite annoying.

Removing all of your topsides will most certainly inhibit your ability to use the boat. Good luck

[zeehag]

there were three sailing vessels requiring new O rings and bedding. once done even the following hurricane didnot cause a leak. just do it. no need to rip up decks just rebed fill fitting and install new o ring.
why overthink an issue.
funny how all 3 boats requiring this repair were fixed while underway.