Posted by huckelberry145 on 08/29/14 - 8:29 AM
#10
stevea295 wrote:
Thanks for the advice/ support. I will rest a little easier knowing that the water migration may not be that far. My worries were that the whole keel area below the drain tube was filled with water, and the only way to drain it out was to drill the hull. I do not plan on doing that after reading everyone's posts. My next job is to evaluate all 8 drain tubes, and hopefully it was just the one that is bad,
Thanks
Something that worked well for me was elevating the bow and rigging a 7watt night light fixture in the drain tube hole with the foam. It was warm enough to evaporate the moisture but cool enough so as not to start a fire. My thoughts on water intrusion is that if it is forced into the foam by the extreme pressure of the water because the boat is planed and hitting waves at an area where there is a crack or a hole. Also, I believe that freeze thaw cycles will spread water throughout the foam. One thing about the drain tube is once planed off, usually the plug can be pulled and water will drain out of the boat meaning, there is little to no water pressure back there while at speed.