Water under cockpit floor

[curioustraveler]

Hello C-Brats. SSobel and Colbysmith, I hope you see this.

I'm pretty sure I have water under my cockpit floor. When I walk from side to side I hear water moving and it seems that's the only place it can be. I don't think water moving along the hull makes this sound but the boat is new to me so I could be wrong.

This is a 2006 so it has the permanent raised floor. There's no bilge or drain hole at the bulkhead.

Where the cockpit floor meets the bulkhead it used to be sealed by the factory with something that's all cracked and missing now. I planned to fill that in with Life Seal or something similar like Ssobel's is. With that joint not currently sealed, will that allow rain water to flow right into the bilge?

A) I assume this is bad and shouldn't be ignored. Water flowing into the bilge with no way to drain seems bad.

B) I think I have the skills to install an inspection port like some of you have done.

C) What's the permanent solution? There's not enough space to install another bilge pump (I think I've read it's about a 3" void at it's greatest.) If I seal the bulkhead to cockpit floor joint, and pump out all the water through an inspection port, should this fix the problem for good?

D) It looks like ColbySmith drilled a hole on the aft edge of the cockpit floor where it faces the fuel tank area on Midnight Flyer. This vertical surface might be big enough to drill a drain hole that can be plugged with a normal drain plug. Would this be a better idea than a large inspection port on the floor?

E) How to you get an inspection port to seal well on non-skid?

Thanks in advance.

[ssobol]

I haven't ever looked, but I expect that there is a gap of an inch or two between the flat floor and the hull top (allowing for the thickness of the flat floor itself). More in the front middle and less to the rear and sides. I don't know if the floor panels are cored or solid.

To check for water under the floor I'd drill a hole and insert a flexible hose (say surgical tubing) and see if I could suck any water out. If you found water you could either suck it all out via the tube (easier repair, harder to verify all the water is out).

To put in a inspection plate, I'd mark the diameter of the flange and try to sand down the non skid under the flange to get the inspection plate to sit lower on the surface. You could also use the appropriate sized hole saw to remove the FG on the top surface of the cockpit floor. Make a shallow cut and then chisel it flush. Or you could just install it and use a lot of sealant to fill all the voids under the flange, this would make the inspection plate sit higher off the surface of the floor though.

In my case the water that went though the gap ended up in the cabin (if you don't find water inside, your cabin aft bulkhead is well attached to the hull). I suppose that there still could be water under the floor, but I never checked. The placement of the sealant was done by the PO.

I would expect that an inspection port at the front of the floor is best. Not only will there be a larger gap under the floor, but the water tends to collect at the aft bulkhead of the cabin.

I don't know for sure, but I expect that there is at least center rib under the floor down the middle. This should be there to keep the floor from flexing when you walk on it. This may not run the whole length though. You may be able locate the floor supporting structure by sounding it. It's possible that there is a crosswise brace instead.

The permanent solution is to seal it up tight. But if you are going to put in an inspection plate because you think you have a problem, you have an easy way to check and/or remove any water that accumulates in the future.

[curioustraveler]

Makes sense to put it at the bulkhead end not the aft end. You've got me thinking about putting the plate off center. I'm not even OCD and that's going to bother me.

What do you think about a drain hole at the aft end, on the vertical surface at the fuel tank area? If I left that open while motoring with the bow up, think it would drain the bilge?

[ssobol]

[thataway]

The removable flat floors were cored--and I believe that the fixed ones are also. The removable floors did have a solid glass piece which wa in the middle on each side. I have the feeling that the solid may have at beastly a partial "stringer" there.

Agree with the access port at the forward end of cockpit. Smallest you can get will be the best. I use a "water canon" to suck out the last few drops in the 25 bilge around the sump and bilge pump.

[curioustraveler]

I'm thinking, rather than a deck plate (I think 4" may be the smallest available), I will try to find a flush fitting transom drain. Something like this, https://www.iboats.com/shop/moeller-transom-drain-legacy-imf-39178.html. I'll have to find a little pump with a tube that'll fit through that drain.

Once I seal the bulkhead joint I don't think I'll get much more water down there so once the water's removed I may not have to access the bilge again. Rather than leaving a large deck plate behind it'll just be a little drain plug.

[jkidd]

I have always wondered if there was any water under the floor in mine. i already have the the brass drain plug bought. I think it will fit in the vertical piece at end of the floor. If it doesn't fit then I will just make a stainless cover and a little 3m 4000 to stick it on. I won't be visible unless you put your head under the splash well. Oh just tip the boat up on the trailer and most of the water is going to run out the back of the boat. Tape a small tube into a wet dry vac and suck the rest of it out.

[curioustraveler]

Jody,

I would love to install it there rather than on my cockpit floor. I'm tempted to try it and see if it works. Like you say, no one's going to see it so even if it doesn't work, oh well. I wish someone on here has drilled into that area so I know what's under there. Based on Colby Smith's photos, I think he has.

[ssobol]

[colbysmith]

Finally took a little bit of time to reply to Josh's email to me on this subject. Sorry I've been absent from here. Been working 12 hours a day between getting Midnight Flyer ready to sell and installing stuff in C-Traveler. I did drill a hole in the aft vertical edge of my raised floor to see if there was water in there. There was some moisture, but most likely from condensation. (No water flowed out, but when I sprayed compressed air into the holes from where the skinny bulkhead in front of the fuel tanks was screwed into that raised floor, I got moisture blowing out the big hole.) I resealed the hole with epoxy, along with sealing the two smaller screw holes. My sealant between the aft cabin bulkhead and raised floor appears to still be set pretty good. Colby

[jkidd]

There’s about 2 inches of space to work with the garboard plug is 2 inches the fill ports are 3 inches. I’m inclined to drill a hole to check and then just plug it.

[curioustraveler]

This community is great. Colby, thanks for the info via email.

jkidd, I think I'm going to try drilling a hole there as well. Maybe start small and see what I find. If there's water in there and I need a bigger hole I can go up to 1 inch and plug it with a regular 1" T handle drain plug. Or if there's enough room I'll install the drain port I linked to earlier. But you say there's only 2” of space so that won't work.

Now I need to refresh on all of Thataway's posts about sealing the exposed core. And I need to find a pump I can use to pump out the water.

[jkidd]

Probably no core in the vertical piece. Use a shop vacuum and tape a small hose in the end and suck the water out.

[jkidd]

Probably no core in the vertical piece. Use a shop vacuum and tape a small hose in the end and suck the water out.

[jkidd]

Probably no core in the vertical piece. Use a shop vacuum and tape a small hose in the end and suck the water out.