Inside maintainance

[johnsonm50]

Alot of reading shows up about how to take care of the outside of the boats so Id like to read about what can be done inside. Ive got 2 older hydros that other than removing the decks theres no way to get totally in to coat dried out, cracked, peeling and or just deteriorating varnish. Ive got a couple ideas & all but would like to read up on others experience.
Is there a product good for this where you cant get in & sand/prep? Im thinkin a garden type pump sprayer with a long tube drilled to spray out at multi directions, push in.. spray while drawing out. Pour in & rock the boat, etc. are whats goin thru my mind. All ideas welcome, Thanks.

[blueskyracer]

I would say that in my opinion that you have already answered your own question. If you want to refinish the inside right take the deck off. But when you do make sure you put it on a jig so that you will keep it strait when you remove the deck. The deck is what will keeps the boat from getting any twists it it so keep it strait. Sounds like a good winter project

[johnsonm50]

I would say that in my opinion that you have already answered your own question. If you want to refinish the inside right take the deck off. But when you do make sure you put it on a jig so that you will keep it strait when you remove the deck. The deck is what will keeps the boat from getting any twists it it so keep it strait. Sounds like a good winter project

Yes its true thats the way but they are in good shape. Hate to tear em off & am under a '$pend alert.' Sooo, as far as products Im thinkin since I put Olympic waterproofing, penetrating oil sealant on a home repair project where I replaced rotted joists under a bathroom. I was impressed by how well it went on & that it really sticks, even to glass. Hence the story of the shortcut method. Thanks Mike.

[bill van steenwyk]

usually an exercise in futility the way you mention

Based on personal experience some years back, both with boats new/just built and an older Marchetti belonging to an aquaintance, if you have a boat leaking badly enough from the OUTSIDE IN, to warrant the type thinking you mention, it will either not do any good, or only last a short time until the boat has been run a few heats or trailered some miles. Your problem is most likely glue joints that have broken loose or were not good enough to start with, allowing water to come in from the outside. You can pour all the sealer, varnish, epoxy mixed thin, etc., in the boat from now till doomsday, but until you fix the problem of the broken glue joint, not many products are thin enough to run into the crack where the water is coming in and then seal well enough AND BE STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLD THE JOINT TOGETHER to stop the leaks for good. In addition to the above problems with product you may pour in the boat, if it is any age at all, it has either oil mixed with gas, castor oil or other synthetic mixed with methonal, or other type fuel that has gotten in the pores of the wood and will prevent whatever product you pour in from adhering to the surface you are trying to seal.

You would be better off trying to stop the leak from the direction the water is coming in from, namely the outside seam that is submerged in the water. The best product for this is some type of silicone that will allow enough flexibility to be forced into the gap and then be flexible enough to hold and not break loose and allow water to go around it. You still probably will not be happy with this fix, unless repeated every few times the boat is run. The glue joint the water is coming in from has been broken, and nothing much is going to fix that except taking it apart and redoing it.

I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but it is almost impossible to stop the water from getting in the boat once a gap or broken glue joint occurs. The best way out of the prediciment is a new boat or one that does not have this problem to start with. There is a reason you see a lot of boats on stands over the water at a race.

[johnsonm50]

Based on personal experience some years back, both with boats new/just built and an older Marchetti belonging to an aquaintance, if you have a boat leaking badly enough from the OUTSIDE IN, to warrant the type thinking you mention, it will either not do any good, or only last a short time until the boat has been run a few heats or trailered some miles. Your problem is most likely glue joints that have broken loose or were not good enough to start with, allowing water to come in from the outside. You can pour all the sealer, varnish, epoxy mixed thin, etc., in the boat from now till doomsday, but until you fix the problem of the broken glue joint, not many products are thin enough to run into the crack where the water is coming in and then seal well enough AND BE STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLD THE JOINT TOGETHER to stop the leaks for good. In addition to the above problems with product you may pour in the boat, if it is any age at all, it has either oil mixed with gas, castor oil or other synthetic mixed with methonal, or other type fuel that has gotten in the pores of the wood and will prevent whatever product you pour in from adhering to the surface you are trying to seal.

You would be better off trying to stop the leak from the direction the water is coming in from, namely the outside seam that is submerged in the water. The best product for this is some type of silicone that will allow enough flexibility to be forced into the gap and then be flexible enough to hold and not break loose and allow water to go around it. You still probably will not be happy with this fix, unless repeated every few times the boat is run. The glue joint the water is coming in from has been broken, and nothing much is going to fix that except taking it apart and redoing it.

I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but it is almost impossible to stop the water from getting in the boat once a gap or broken glue joint occurs. The best way out of the prediciment is a new boat or one that does not have this problem to start with. There is a reason you see a lot of boats on stands over the water at a race.

Thanks Bill, thing is these dont leak at all, are solid & the only problem being some varnish in not the best shape. The little bit of peeling is from a re-varnish that like you say is done over contaminants. Thats why I want to do something for now that will effectively buy time- save bucks.

[bill van steenwyk]

sorry for the misunderstanding

Thought you had a leaking problem, but after re-reading I see you have no complaints that way. If it were me, I would try to clean out as good as possible, although that is a problem because of limited access. If you have any oil in the boat as previously mentioned, you will probably not get a good seal with anything where that residue remains.

I would not use any type "solvent" on the inside, but you do need to clean as much as possible, so what you use will adhere as good as possible. I would use something like dawn dishwashing liquid and pour some in the sides of the boat either thru cockpit side holes, sponson drain holes, etc., and then let it sit and try to dissolve any oil etc., that may be on the existing finish. Then rinse out throughly. I don't think I would use anything high pressure, maybe just a hose directed into any opening availiable. Then LET DRY completely for several weeks even in a warm place. It has to be dry before your put anything you use for sealer in there.. Then use a good sealer that is thinned enough so that it will flow as much as possible and have some help so you can turn the boat upside down to get the underside of the decks, turn it up on the sides, in other words every way possible to get it to flow anywhere you need it. You could also use West Systems possibly, thinned enough so it would also flow fairly easily into everywhere you want it to go. I am not real up to snuff on West Systems insofar as mixing it thin and then how it sets up. Perhaps they (West Systems) could be of some help there. Other than deck removal, that seems to be your only recourse.

Good Luck.

[DeanFHobart]

Try Bilge Cleaner

Yo,

Try Heavy Duty Bilge Cleaner. It's available at any good Marine Store, like West Marine.
Pour it in full strength, roll the boat around several times and let it sit for awhile with the plugs in. Then pour it out and do your presure washing.

Good Luck.

[ZUL8TR]

Cleaning the inside

I have used the green type detergents like ZEP sold at home depot & walmart
pour in and rotate the hull, wipe as mush area as you can reach, let sit then flush out with fresh water and let dry. I have had a similiar situation and after the green detergent used mineral sprits and do the same rotate hull and then pour out and let dry. The mineral sprits will remove additional surface residue in prep for the varnish.

Post some pics of the boats.

[johnsonm50]

Here they are, 1st is a Bunky Bowerman 20SS/C Im still working on, the last is a C Bezoats that I currently run. Both are of or about late 70s vintage.





Thanks for the replies, some good insight into some hard to access insides.

[bill van steenwyk]

They look well taken care of

Very nice looking boats, especially for their vintage.

By the way, the tip I gave you on the Dawn dishwashing liquid works very well. I am not familiar with the other products mentioned, but sometimes products that are advertised for grease removal, etc., have caustic (lye or lye based) products in them, which I don't think you would want to use on wood, unless followed up with something to neutralize it, like you have to do when cleaning TEAK such as used on swim or ski platforms. There are two products use, one a caustic to actually clean, and then an acid to neutralize the caustic. I don't really think you would want to use a product containing caustic as you have to do twice the work with clean up. The contents should be listed on the container, and if you would not want it on you, it is probably not satisfactory for what you want to use it for.

The Dawn is made to cut grease on kitchen utensils and such, and does a very good job. I used to use it to wash my vehicles in the summertime as it did such a good job of bug removal, but I found it also removed/stripped the wax in one washing, so I quit using it for that purpose, and went to a soap specific for automobiles that would not remove wax. I have used it (Dawn) for what you want to clean, and it did a very good job. The only thing you need to remember is to rinse it out well and let it dry out well before trying to apply any type varnish or sealer so there is no moisture left in the wood. A small fan placed in front of any cockpit side openings will be a big help in drying it out throughly.

[johnsonm50]

Thanks Bill, milder methods like Dawn are what I have in mind for them. The Bunky having run with a 102 seems free of oil etc. but the Bezoats Ive run a MK 25 & an OMC rat with an on board tank. No get-n around the residue there.