by Roger » Sun May 08, 2005 10:28 am
David,
When I was checking for leaks, the drain plug just happend to be a haphazard guess. I was just dong a final thorough check of all fastenings that went through through to the bilge. I had really thought that my leak was at the cb pivot bolt and uphaul line. Imagine my surprise when I unscrewed the two screws holding on the tube fixture and screw plug, to find that most of the silicone came out with it. When I felt with my finger, in and around the hole, I found the same thing as you, wet wood fibres. I let it dry for a couple of days, and it seemed dry enough to be able to take some new silicone. I used 3M 4000 adhesive sealant. I really gooped up the plug, but as you say, the tube does not go all the way through the transom, thereby exposing the wood within to moisture. I did put enough goop in to seal this to some degree, but I think to be sure, I will pull this fitting again at the end of the season and check the quality of the silicone at the inboard end of the hole.
I guess another option, if moisture is soaking into the wood sandwiched in the transom, is to really dry it out well. I installed a 7" inspection port in the cuddy floor this year in order to examine the front of the cb trunk and the uphaul hole where there is a gap between the liner and the hull. I concieve placing a ceramic heater or fan down into the bilge for a couple of weeks, with a tarp covering the boat, opening up all the inspection ports, and hopefully drying things out, by circulating a lot of air through there. The next step, may be to epoxy the exposed wood, with a latex gloved finger through the removed fixture and resulting hole. When that has all cured, then silicone and reinstall the plug fixture.
I assume from examination of the rest of the boat, that the inside of the transom is fg covered. Evidence: I had to replace the jib track backing nuts last fall. There is a piece of wood laminated in back there into which the original screws went. The wood was rotten, but the fg was ok. A second piece of evidence was a nav light that I installed on the port quarter this spring. I drilled a 3/4 inch hole through the gelcoat, exterior fg, a plywood plate, that again was sandwiched by fg on the inside. (I guess I should seal that exposed wood on the inside surface of the hole as well). From this evidence, I would deduce that the transom drain hole is the same, and that the only exposed wood is where the hole was drilled. Let me know what kind of repair you choose to do, and how it goes.