Water in Bracket

[strick]

A couple weekends ago fellow CSC member Rhett aka "Chaos" stopped buy to pay a visit. We were looking at my 23.... and I was showing him the bracket that I had made 3.5 years ago. As I opened the Armstrong deck plates we noticed the chamber was full of water!! I tasted it and sure enough it was salt water from the last fishing trip. The deck plates were on good and tight so that meant I had a leak somewhere. Just what I needed....more work to do.

I noticed were the top of the swim platform met the transom the 5200 had shrunk resulting in a little crack in the 5200 that could let water in between the swim platform and transom.




The 1/4 inch gap between the forward edge of the swim platform and the transom is a design flaw from being a rookie. The picture below is from when I made that bracket. If you look close and sight down the forward edge of the swim platform you can see were it bends in slightly. The divot inward is in the area were the swim platform sits on the flotation chamber's forward edge.



Now heres a picture of when I bonded the swim platform to the flotation chamber. You can see where there is not enough cabosil in the gap between the swim platform and flotation chamber. This is where my leak was.



Even though I filled this gap with cabosil, to make it look better it still cracked and resulted in the leak.




Here is a picture from inside the bracket that shows where the water came in from on that forward edge.



You can see the light coming from the crack. Clearly I did not put enough cabosil on the ledge for it to create a good bond between the two pieces. Also it looks like I made the cabosil too runny so it made the inadequate bond. In retrospect I should have just glassed this area like Tim did with his bracket before putting the bracket on the boat.

To fix it I had to remove all the 5200 sealant. Grind out the area to be glassed and epoxy a 1.5 inch wide strip of 1708 over the defect. It was a real PIA removing all the 5200 from the gap and then grinding that area out.



while I was at it I decided to go the extra mile and epoxy the underside of the swim platform just to be safe. A shot showing the underside of the swim platform ground down and ready for epoxy.



1.5 inch strip of 1708 epoxied into place.




quick fair and ready for paint



repainted



finished repair



strick

[BigLew]

I don't know Strick. I think we have to change your name to "Merlin- The Royal Magician of All Things Fiberglass"!!

Be well.

[peterb]

No doubt that Strick is my idol.

I got saltwater in my flotation bracket as well several weeks ago. Here is what happened. I had both engines raised two slots. In hindsight I should have more closely checked out the work.

I took the boat out in a real sloppy day. Once we were out in the ocean (about 10 miles away from the Barnegat Inlet) I noticed that the bracket was under water. Now my brother in law is a big guy, but he's not that big.

We pounded our way home (through some steep waves). At the dock I could see that one of the 2 chambers was full of water. I had no problem unscrewing the hatch cover (a bad sign). I pumped out all of the water. After doing this I looked inside the chamber and saw that my mechanic friend had left a large wrench on one of the engine bolts.

I then proceeded to put both hatches covers on as tight as possible and then used a marine sealant over any possible air spaces.

[1bayouboy]

And I for one REALLY appreciate the discussion of a mistake...it keeps us all from making the same one.
Thank You Strick.... [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[strick]

No problem

Peter- make sure thats were the water is coming from before your next trip. I took a garden hose and flooded the top of the bracket while the boat was on the trailer and it took a while to find the leak.

strick

[captinseafood]

Greetings SeaCrafters. I'm in the midst of replacing the transom of my '74 20 ft cc. I saw the bracket pictured on your post and I would love to attach one to my boat. I've preped the transom to accept the laminated marine ply but have not cut the ply yet. Before I do, would a bracket work on a 20' as well as with a short shaft? I'd feel some much better with a rail height transom than the open one built into the boat. I chunk/troll for tuna on this boat and often while at anchor I have to bridle off and that puts me ass to the rout. A bracket would help? I've posted other ?'s on the "transom work on 23' spector" thread Anyone mind checking them out?

[strick]

would a bracket work on a 20' as well as with a short shaft?

You will at least a 25 inch shaft motor.

strick

[Chaos]

Glad to hear you found the leak and got it fixed. Amazing it took so long to show up