Well, had a good look the Grady last night and I am relieved in what I found. I located the fuel leak, it is the filler line that has a crack in it after i looked up in the ski locker. I am replacing the filler and vent line to the tank as they are original (actually have 1989 on them. After getting the cutting loads of sealant off was finally able to get the fuel deck cover off. The floor is in excellent shape, apart from the mould on the one end it is still all very solid. Good news too about the tank, it is in very good condition (for it's age) and had 100L/26.4G of fuel in it (I know, I pumped it out). There was condensation on top of the tank, but the rest of everything is dry.I cleaned off the tank and could not locate any pin holes, I also was able to move the tank and inspect and it looks good underneath and the bottom of the boat is dry. I removed all the old wood brackets that hold the tank in place to get a good look at the stringers. They are dry and solid. I am going to replace all the fuel lines and also the sending unit. I am going to have a new tank fabricated this winter for safe measure, I actually want to have a smaller tank that is shorter and holds less fuel. I want to shorten several inches off the tank (the portion towards the stern) which should also take a bit more weight off the rear of the boat and might just give me that extra play room if I decide to put a 4 stroke on in the future in terms of the extra weight.
So to the transom, I removed the brass motorwell tubes and yep they allowed water in as did the aluminum motor bracket. I had a brass hammer and tapped around and the only area with water is from the aluminum bracket down to the motorwell brass thruhulls but not all the way to port and starboard, only goes as wide as the drain tubes if you know what I mean. I drilled two other test holes and they were both dry. I was reefing on the motor and I couldn't see the transom flex. The drain plug, I don't know what the previous owner did here. After I pulled it off and dried everything off, i dug into the wood with a pic and surprisingly still solid, no moisture coming up. I know this all is going to lead to an issue but I am almost tempted to seal it up for the season and have the transom, fuel tank and bottom coat sanded down and redone this winter. Ideas, suggestions?
The conditions I will be using the boat is a small freshwater inland lake, boat will stay in the water from May-Oct.
Original Post: I brought the boat home this spring expecting to replace the thru-hulls and some basic upgrades as I bought the boat late last season. After joining this forum I discovered what seems to be common problems. Take a look at the pics. My gas tank I believe is probably rotted as there is fuel that has sloshed into the ski locker somehow (I thought that drained directly into the bilge?). The bilge is dry, either there is something blocking the tube or the tube has cracked under the gas tank. Apart from the boat potentially being a fuel bomb, I did clean up the fuel in the ski locker and removed the battery. I opened the inspection plates, one has been sealed shut with some kind of epoxy the other showing the vent tube and filler tube seem to be newer and the fittings seem to be newer. The tank from the top seems to be okay but I know it is probably not in good shape underneath. The removable deck above the has been sealed down with some epoxy (looks newer) and some of the screws were stripped so someone has been in there before. I don't know if this is supposed to be sealed down like this but I don't know how I am going to get it off, the tools I had with me were not good enough.
Next I thought I would remove the aluminum cap and it looks pretty bad underneath. The motor feels very solid on the transom but when I look into the bilge I can see that the bottom motor bolts have pulled themselves back into the wood above 1/2 inch which leads me to believe the transom is water logged and rotting. I removed one of the brass drain tubes and again doesn't look good, dark in colour.
I feel like an idiot because I purchased this because I loved the style and the story behind it but I also don't want to lose this because above deck everything is sound. There are no soft spots in the floor at all and the hardware is in great shape, no pitting on the SS and gel coat looks good. I am having the boat surveyed next Saturday but what do you guys think based on the pics? Is this worth a transom repair, possible stringers? I am going at it again tomorrow to get the deck off over the fuel tank to see what's happening. My worst fear is a pool of fuel that has been sitting there. Pretty devastated by it all.
So to the transom, I removed the brass motorwell tubes and yep they allowed water in as did the aluminum motor bracket. I had a brass hammer and tapped around and the only area with water is from the aluminum bracket down to the motorwell brass thruhulls but not all the way to port and starboard, only goes as wide as the drain tubes if you know what I mean. I drilled two other test holes and they were both dry. I was reefing on the motor and I couldn't see the transom flex. The drain plug, I don't know what the previous owner did here. After I pulled it off and dried everything off, i dug into the wood with a pic and surprisingly still solid, no moisture coming up. I know this all is going to lead to an issue but I am almost tempted to seal it up for the season and have the transom, fuel tank and bottom coat sanded down and redone this winter. Ideas, suggestions?
The conditions I will be using the boat is a small freshwater inland lake, boat will stay in the water from May-Oct.
Original Post: I brought the boat home this spring expecting to replace the thru-hulls and some basic upgrades as I bought the boat late last season. After joining this forum I discovered what seems to be common problems. Take a look at the pics. My gas tank I believe is probably rotted as there is fuel that has sloshed into the ski locker somehow (I thought that drained directly into the bilge?). The bilge is dry, either there is something blocking the tube or the tube has cracked under the gas tank. Apart from the boat potentially being a fuel bomb, I did clean up the fuel in the ski locker and removed the battery. I opened the inspection plates, one has been sealed shut with some kind of epoxy the other showing the vent tube and filler tube seem to be newer and the fittings seem to be newer. The tank from the top seems to be okay but I know it is probably not in good shape underneath. The removable deck above the has been sealed down with some epoxy (looks newer) and some of the screws were stripped so someone has been in there before. I don't know if this is supposed to be sealed down like this but I don't know how I am going to get it off, the tools I had with me were not good enough.
Next I thought I would remove the aluminum cap and it looks pretty bad underneath. The motor feels very solid on the transom but when I look into the bilge I can see that the bottom motor bolts have pulled themselves back into the wood above 1/2 inch which leads me to believe the transom is water logged and rotting. I removed one of the brass drain tubes and again doesn't look good, dark in colour.
I feel like an idiot because I purchased this because I loved the style and the story behind it but I also don't want to lose this because above deck everything is sound. There are no soft spots in the floor at all and the hardware is in great shape, no pitting on the SS and gel coat looks good. I am having the boat surveyed next Saturday but what do you guys think based on the pics? Is this worth a transom repair, possible stringers? I am going at it again tomorrow to get the deck off over the fuel tank to see what's happening. My worst fear is a pool of fuel that has been sitting there. Pretty devastated by it all.
