Removing water from hardware hole

[moonie5961]

x

[xort]

vacuum? Seal the hose good and suck water out. Then use a heat gun to dry it out?

[quidam1947]

Acetone is less dense than water and therefore will only sit ontop of any water. Same with Alcohol. Xtorts' suggestions are good but you need to be very careful of catching what you're working on, on fire. Better to pick a good sunny day and let the area aire dry.

[xort]

it will take a lot of heat to do any damage. considering the amount of heat typically used on hoses to get them pliable, I doubt you will do any damage heating up the hole after vacuuming.

[Izzy1414]

Originally Posted by xort

it will take a lot of heat to do any damage. considering the amount of heat typically used on hoses to get them pliable, I doubt you will do any damage heating up the hole after vacuuming.

Moonie,

I'm with xort, don't think you will hurt anything with heat gun or blow dryer. Your drilling might do it too but it's going to be best to do all you can do to get the moisture out.

[AllThumbs]

The drilling won't dry any wood. It will remove some wet wood, but there will be no heat created due to the drilling. I would probably drill it, then dry with a heater or the sun. Even this will only work if the wood is only wet at the hole. If the wood is soaked, I doubt it would ever dry.

[Maine Sail]

Be very careful with real heat guns. These things get very, very hot and can blister and burn gelcoat quite easily.

I would also advise leaving the skins in place and removing a bit of core. The skins are your strength and the bond of epoxy to moist wood is next to nil so over drilling damp core will leave you with a very weak plug and minimal to no bond strength.

Use a light bulb or a vacuum method as a trial or cut the decks open and repair them correctly. You don't really make it clear of this was just moisture that got in there after you removed the bolts, and did not cover the holes, or this was an on going long term leak due to bedding issues.

The sad reality is that if the decks have been leaking for a while there is no real way to dry them other than to cut them open and replace the core.

Injecting anything into wet or damp core also achieves basically nothing except making the proper repair more difficult when the time comes...

The strongest method for potting deck core holes. Note that the "plug" is captive and the top and bottom skins remain intact leaving the integrity of the skin laminates untouched:



Optional methods that are weaker and less strong than with top and bottom skins intact. The one on the left is a complete over drill (probably the worst choice) and the one on the right is a top skin over bore only (slightly better)..

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by moonie5961

I have no way of knowing if the leak was prolonged or not, I have had the boat for a week tomorrow. Surveyor and my own moisture reader findings indicate that the decks are dry, still have that nice sharp ring when sounded with a screw driver handle. The holes were only exposed for a day or two, we had light misty drizzle.. but again, I stress... as far as I know, the decks are dry. Today we had a train of torrential rainfall come through Charleston, I did a quick (effectiveness remains to be seen) cover job with a slew of duck tape.
The manufacturer glassed over fittings from below so that deck leaks will not make themselves known.

Interesting choice of tool for a professional surveyor.. Did I read it right that he did not have his own moisture meter and you used yours? Most would use a small brass or phenolic/plastic hammer but if that is what he is used to than I'm sure it could work for him..

If that is all the moisture that is in there then a simple red heat lamp bulb (any hardware store will have them) about 10-12" off the deck in one of those aluminum clamp on work shop lamps will dry it out ..

[scottyt]

if the hole goes all the way thru make a chimney out of some cardboard or sheet metal. put it below the hole taped to the hull, then put a night light in the chimney ( 7 watt bulb ). this will slightly heat the air and get some air flowing thru the hole due to the chimney effect. i would bet this would work way better over night than a heat gun could in an hour, just check it after a half an hour to make sure its not getting too hot

[hellosailor]

But alcohol doesn't just sit on top of the water, it mixes with it. And then pulls the water out as the mix evaporates.

Buy cheap isopropanol form the drug store, usually available in three dilutions, each consisting of alcohol plus water. Use the 90%+ kind, it will be able to pull out more water and evaporate faster, since there's less in it to start with.

That won't un-saturate a soggy layer or coring, but it will pull moisture out of whatever is in direct contact with it.