Sundancer elevated moisture reading on the bow

Hi - So I have a question about moisture that was found on my bow during a survey. I was told there was an elevated level of moisture on the bow. I have since kept the boat covered so no more moisture could get into the bow. My question is; Since I am now keeping the bow covered al all times will the moisture level eventually drop or even dry up? Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

It's unlikely to improve until you locate the source of the water intrusion. Most likely the mounting hardeware for the windlass and hatch have not been re bedded since the boat was built. The areas with moisture need to be opened up. Depending on the moisture levels this could be as simple as drilling a few holes in the deck from below the gel coat to
digging out rotted balsa core. Blowing a stream of warm, dry air into the wet area that has been tented to focus the heat will dry the core out over a period of a couple of weeks or so. It does not take much heat and air flow to dry the core unless there is soggy wood. If you have that condition, it must all be removed. Once it is dry you need to epoxy the drill holes, epoxy the edges of the exposed balsa, rebuild and epoxy the core if it was removed, and reinstall the fittings sealing them with 4200 to prevent water from re-entering the area.

Gary, Welcome to CSR. I surveyed a 400DA that had moisture years ago. It is not something that goes away. The moisture wicks and causes other problems. That area will be weak until its dealt with and may/likely progressively get worse with time. Do a search as there have been several discussions on the subject. If you really want to dive into it go to you tube and Sail Life channel (Refitting Athena). Mads re-cores bow area of his Sail Boat. Good luck, JC

Gary Banks said:

Hi - So I have a question about moisture that was found on my bow during a survey. I was told there was an elevated level of moisture on the bow. I have since kept the boat covered so no more moisture could get into the bow. My question is; Since I am now keeping the bow covered al all times will the moisture level eventually drop or even dry up? Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

First, no clue what an "elevated level of moisture" means. Elevated, relative to what. How big is the area? Did they sound the area to determine if there was any delamination? Where they able to identify the likely place the water was coming from?

Short answer to your question is that it won't "dry up" on it's own. You'll need to remove any fittings that are allowing water in and dry it out. If it is a big area, they have techniques where they drill holds and use air to dry it out. See these guys -- http://dryboat.com/ So much depends on what they actually found. Good luck.

I agree with most all of the above. In addition, a previous survey, along with a current one, can be a valuable tool when you decide to sell the boat, as long as you have addressed the issues identified in the previous survey. Figure out the extent of the problem and do not ignore it like some folks do.

In addition to the windlass area mentioned earlier, it's not uncommon to have soft deck areas that form around the hatches. Our surveyor said the bow of Sundancers are notorious for this. Sometimes you can remove the hatch, dig around the void to scrape out the rotten core, leave it open to dry for a while in the off season if you have heated storage, refill it with epoxy, and then rebed the hatch properly. It won't get better unless you open it up and fix the damage, then seal it properly to prevent more.