TOPIC: looking for some advice

I have a 1960 Dorsett Belmont. The deck is a sealed deck which closes off the space below the deck and around the stringers. I can not find any access to this area. I have water below the deck and i am trying to figure out the least intrusive way to get it out. The deck is solid except I did find some screw holes from when the PO remounted the seats that were not filled in.

I have considered drilling holes in the space between the strings in the aft sections and suctioning the water out with a tube. I was than thinking to seal in a piece of PVC in place with a cap to be able to repeat the process if needed in the future. From other pictures there are four stringers so I think this will require one hole in between each stringer.

Another thought was opening area to place a bilge pump but if the stringers are all solid the water will be held within the channels created by the stringers and it would not flow to a central low point.

Another thought was to tip the boat forward, flowing the water to the bow section, so there would only be a need for one entry point. I am not sure if there are cross members that restrict the water from flowing forward.

I know the best will be to cut out a section across the deck inspect everything and replace as needed. But with the deck feeling so strong I was hoping for an easier solution.

Any ideas or comments on my thoughts.

Thanks in advance. pics of the boat are in the galley.

TBAZ

Find the hole or crack in the bottom that's letting the water in ?

Maybe cut a 6-12" wide sections across the floor left to right. Make it a removable access panel

I decided to drill a 1" hole in the transom about 1/2" off the bottom and epoxied it. Then I use a boat plug that requires a 1/2" hex wrench to remove it. I tip the boat up for a while and then leave the plug out until I use the boat again. Just an idea.

I beleive that the water was coming in where the PO remounted the seats and left the open bolt holes that breached the deck. There is sign of a bottom repair but it looks solid. Hopefully the top deck wholes were the issue but that is also why I wanted to come up with a way of repeating this proess in case there are other holes I missed.

What I ended up doing was drilling a 3/8 inch hole in the aft section of the deck midship and used 3/8 ID flexible platic tubing to drain the water out. (refrigerator water line) only to find out the center stringer section is full of flotation foam.

I repeated this process to the port side as far aft as I could and still keep the drill at 90 degress to the deck. Inserted the plastic line (no faom in this stringer channel), ran the platic line out the drain hole in the transom. I taped the hose onto a shop vac and water was coming out.

I repeated the process for each stringer as the water was being held in the channal created by the stringer. Midship, the outboard splah pan forced me to move out farther to maintain the 90 degree angle. The flexible tubing allowed me to chae around to get all of the water. I also raised and lowered the trailer to move the water around.

I drained 3-4 gallons out of the boat. I let the boat sit in the AZ sun to air out any additional moisture.

To repair the holes I took a 3/8 carriage bolt and an oversize washer. Filled the hole and surround area with 5200 and worked the washer and bolt until a good seal was made. I let this dry. I did leave one hole open to test for other leaks.

I hooked the hose from the shop vac, with the flexible tubing still taped on, to the exhaust side of the shop vac and placed the tube into the open hole.

This pressurized the area under the deck. I checked the hull and deck for leaks with a spray bottle of dish soap and water. No holes were found. In fact when I pulled the hose out of the hose air came out like a blow up toy for a few seconds..

Sealed the last hole and all seems good.

Since I had everything out to repaint the deck, other than the wait time for the drying, this was only a few hours job.

Now finish the painting, install fuel tank, seats and tiddy up some wiring wee should be on the water next weekend.

TBAZ