Screw Holes

H

Hugh and Jennifer

New member
We're finally C-dory owners and we love it here on beautiful Lake Norman. We are in process of getting canvas, and are learning about things like the hot little diesel stove, and more urgently, the bilge pumps. Mine seems to stop up with pollen and leaves etc pretty often so I'm having to clean it out often.
But my first question is this. The previous owner, or maybe the factory, screwed the bilge pump bracket into the sole of the boat. There are two more larger pump brackets screwed down back at the transom next to the batteries. Is this normal? Is it likely to have caused some moisture to get into the core? I don't think these hulls were vacuum bagged, so it would seem to me there would be places down there for water to hide. I'm planning to pull up the extra pump brackets and fill those holes, but I would like to find out whether any of them are supposed to be there.
Hugh
 
"Supposed to be there" depends on whose definition... but most here would agree that unless the holes were properly pre-drilled an potted with epoxy, they SHOULDN'T be there. Especially in the bilge area. I'd remove the pumps and drill out the holes with a 5/8" bit to find out if there is rot - be careful to only go through the top layer of glass and the core but not the bottom of the glass. If the screws were fairly well sealed (a big if) and if there's not normally a lot of standing water in there (depends on how it's stored), most likely you have a little rot in the immediate area of the hole that hasn't traveled too far. Typically, the end grain balsa (grain running vertically) doesn't wick water too far. Assuming you run into dry core (or can dremel back to dry core without making a hole larger than say 1", just undercut and fill with epoxy as has been described here on the site many time. If you don't get to dry core, then I'd recommend you get a professional involved to determine the extent of the problem with a moisture meter. If needed, it wouldn't be too hard to take out a section of the upper glass, re-core that section and glass it back in. Hopefully there's no or local moisture only.
 
We also had our bilge pump screwed into the floor of the hull. I pulled the screws and drilled out the screw holes. In our 2008, we had a green "foam" and no core (I'm guessing the same synthetic material as in our transom). The holes were completly dry. I then just filled with epoxy and set the "base" of the bilge pump in the epoxy.

I just don't like holes in the bilge area - regardless of how safe it may or may not be with the non-core material.
 
BRAZO":9jy5e7f6 said:
We also had our bilge pump screwed into the floor of the hull. I pulled the screws and drilled out the screw holes. In our 2008, we had a green "foam" and no core (I'm guessing the same synthetic material as in our transom). The holes were completly dry. I then just filled with epoxy and set the "base" of the bilge pump in the epoxy.

I just don't like holes in the bilge area - regardless of how safe it may or may not be with the non-core material.
Click to expand...
If one has to replace the bilge pump with a different model because the pump breaks and a similar isn't available OR the base breaks, it's a lot easier of you just use 4200 to set the base in.
 
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