Disappointing discovery...

[Recoil Rob]

Today I stopped putting off making an opening in the aft deck of my 2004 180 Sportsman. I want to put in an hull transducer and this is the only way to access the inside of the hull.

Took some careful measurements from the GW supplied stringer layout and drilled a small test hole.




I bent a wire about 4" from the end, put it in the hole and rotated to make sure nothing was in the way and then drilled a 6-3/8" hole so I could get my arm in. (6-3/8" is the hole size for a 6" inpection plate in case this didn't work out). Once I did that I was able to see what size hatch I can install there (probably 13x17 which will give a 9 x 14" hole to work in.




Now for the disappointing news, the wood core of the decking is very wet. I put a piece in a vise and was easily able to squeeze out the the water.




I really wasn't expecting this, the boat was trailered from "factory new" until last year which was the first season at the dock. When I drilled the transom below the waterline for trim tabs last year it was bone dry. I can only assume GW did a bad job of sealing the underside of the deck or core or both. The deck came right off the plug core I took out, fell right off.






Being a small boat the stringers are close together, there's no sponginess in the deck at all, nice and solid. Not that there's much I can do anyway. Just not what I was expecting.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I think everyone would be surprised at how wet their boat is. I have recored my tank hatch and aft deck hatch that were wet. I would assume the deck has some wet spots too.
Boats get wet. Wood holds water. Its the screws, holes and cracks in the top deck glass that let water in. It wicks its way throughout the deck because the underside glass doesn't let the water out. I'm guessing your helm console and seat are screwed into the deck.

But it still floats and it has a lot of years left to catch fish.

That top layer kind of looks like termites?

 

[Fishtales]

Too bad. I'm doing a small hatch that was soaked and will do the larger one over the tanks at the end of this season. I bet that one is wet as well. IDK, I keep hearing wood done right is a good coring material. I am starting to think it is a bad choice today. Composite is the way to go.

 

[Recoil Rob]

That top layer kind of looks like termites?

No, the voids are in the composite, not the wood. It's that they didn't put enough of whatever type composite they use between the bottom of the non-skid and the top of the wood core.

Unless we have composite eating termites...