Water Under Aft Cockpit in 07 Venture

Hi All,

Wondering if I could revive this thread. I have an opportunity to purchase an otherwise lovely Venture 23 that appears to have water under the decking as mentioned in this thread. For those of you who still have this boat, would this keep you from buying it again? Have you found this to cause any permanent damage?
 
I don't have a 23, but have surveyed (pro bono) a couple. There are "solutions' to water under the floor. Many are susceptible to this.

It would not stop me from buying the boat.
 
thataway":2lbmathn said:
I don't have a 23, but have surveyed (pro bono) a couple. There are "solutions' to water under the floor. Many are susceptible to this.

It would not stop me from buying the boat.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that makes me feel a bit better. So even if water was left there, under the floor for a period of years? Its not necessarily getting to the balsa core?
 
As long as there are no screw holes in the balsa core, just water in-between the cockpit floor and inner hull should not cause any intrusion into the balsa--any more than leaving the boat in the water would. The fiberglass is a barrier (OK it is a semi permeable membrane, but the permeability is only a few mm at most. ...not thru the entire bottom or inner hull glass. This refers to blistering, not water in the core. C Dory are extremely rare to have blistering or osmosis. What I have seen is more a defect in bonding of the gel coat in a very few boats...It is obvious if present.
 
I have a 2007 Cape Cruiser/Venture 26'

Had been fine on this water issue .. until last fall when a big rain filled the cockpit and bilge pump failed.

Water (about an inch or so) seeped between the hull and cockpit floor -- and I didn't find out until this spring.

I have had a slantback built to keep any future water out.. and have installed 2 deck plates between the gas tanks (per consensus on the forums) -- and have all the 'surface water' out. The foam remains quite wet.

I am using a circulation fan as I am able.. and also putting small dishes of dehumidifying pellets in. Limited moisture being pulled out.. but not showing signs of more coming in either.

Does this sound like the major 'pull the floor up, pull out all foam and reinstall' type scenario -- or... any thoughts/reactions?

Thanks-- Jeff
 
I have never had water in the cockpit but I did have some under the cabin floor. Turn out it was coming in from two sources. First was the improper sealing of the anchor locker. The second was from the Wallas exhaust port from side spray when going through choppy water. That was tough one to find as the side spray was going up the fitting over the top and down the flexible exhaust pipe into the boat. Made a deflector to divert the spray around the exhaust port opening that solved the problem. I took the fridge out and took it to Mayfield Lake to see if the water inlet to the head was leaking three different times. Never got a drop of water in the boat on a lake but always got water when out at Westport in the ocean. Finally figured it out.
Forrest
 
I bought this boat used, it already had two inspection ports when i bought it. 1 is right at the back of the cabin, as you walked through the door. The second is in the v-berth. I am in the process of removing the inspection ports and sealing them with epoxy. Can anyone can tell me what this blue stuff is? These first two pictures are from the v-birth inspection port, looking back towards the cabin/stern:
IMG_4876.sized.jpg
IMG_4877.sized.jpg

These next pictures are where a little concern arises. These are pictures of the cabin access port. With what appear to be the same blue material below it. You can see what looks like a few cut marks below the lip of the inspection port. I assume if they are cut marks they probably happened when cutting the hole for the inspection port.
IMG_4883.sized.jpg
IMG_4865.sized.jpg
IMG_4866.sized.jpg

I saw a liitle bit of moisture in those cut marks and am concerned there is rotten balsa beneath. I picked at the marks a little but was never able to see balsa or confirm that they were deep enough to get down to balsa (if there is any down there?).

So really my two questions are:
1. What is that blue stuff?
2. What is below the blue stuff?

Thanks
 
I have a 2006 Cape Cruiser, so we have the same boat.
I had water under the cabin floor and so I cut an inspection port close to the cabin door. I was stunned to see some sort of purple-red material that was cracked and had water in the cracks, similar to what you see - only yours appears to be blue.

Maybe others that know for sure can chime in, but I think it is leftover resin that was poured into the void under the floor, before the floor was installed.

I think that this material was poured on top of the inner hull, perhaps for adhesion or extra rigidity of the floor, but that is just a guess. I don't think there is balsa under it, but just poured on top of the inner glass hull layer.

I solved (for the most part) the water ingress into this area by re-sealing the cockpit floor to aft cabin bulkhead seam. I also removed all the plastic plugs in the cockpit floor and the ones under the door on the inside of the cabin, and filling the holes with epoxy and glass.

I would not seal up the inspection ports, as they allow access to vacuum out any water that may find it's way into the area, and also allows a flow of air under to floor to aid in drying, if opened and a small fan blowing into one of the holes.

Chris
 
CC Rider":275ue3k6 said:
I have a 2006 Cape Cruiser, so we have the same boat.
I had water under the cabin floor and so I cut an inspection port close to the cabin door. I was stunned to see some sort of purple-red material that was cracked and had water in the cracks, similar to what you see - only yours appears to be blue.

Maybe others that know for sure can chime in, but I think it is leftover resin that was poured into the void under the floor, before the floor was installed.

I think that this material was poured on top of the inner hull, perhaps for adhesion or extra rigidity of the floor, but that is just a guess. I don't think there is balsa under it, but just poured on top of the inner glass hull layer.

I solved (for the most part) the water ingress into this area by re-sealing the cockpit floor to aft cabin bulkhead seam. I also removed all the plastic plugs in the cockpit floor and the ones under the door on the inside of the cabin, and filling the holes with epoxy and glass.

I would not seal up the inspection ports, as they allow access to vacuum out any water that may find it's way into the area, and also allows a flow of air under to floor to aid in drying, if opened and a small fan blowing into one of the holes.

Chris
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Interesting yours is purple/red. I looked back through most of the photos on this thread and couldn’t find any pictures like mine. It feels very tough whatever it is.

As for the sealing, I meant that I was sealing up the exposed balsa from the inspection port cuts. The inspection ports are for sure staying 🙂
 
Interesting yours is purple/red. I looked back through most of the photos on this thread and couldn’t find any pictures like mine. It feels very tough whatever it is
Click to expand...

I looked for pictures also, yours are the first I have seen that are similar to what mine looks like. I will try and take a couple of pics and will post them on this thread. It does feel like very tough material.

As for the sealing, I meant that I was sealing up the exposed balsa from the inspection port cuts. The inspection ports are for sure staying 🙂
Click to expand...

Apologies for the misunderstanding, the pics seem to show the inspection hole edges already sealed, so I thought you meant the entire port hole....

Chris
 
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