water around mufflers

WOFTAM wrote: I have an 81 SN. Water accumulates in between the stringers where the glass paks are. I have dried this out, thinking the nwater was from the folks getting in and out, but it comes back. I have noticed that there are no weep holes for this water to exit into the main bilge where it can be pumped out. My questions are: 1) Does the presence of this water point to a hole in one of the glass paks or hose? 2) The previous owner repaired the stringers. Is there supposed to be a weep hole for the water to exit? 3) My idea was to drill 1" holes in the stringers, then fill the hole with West System with 406 filler, then drill 1/2" weep holes into the hole that is filled with the thickened epoxy. Any thoughts? Thanks Y'all

Whatever your name is,
EDIT: Mike, (found your name is a previous post) get you name up in your profile - I can't remember them all!!

1) find the leak! yes it may be a hole the muffler. get it on the trailer and fill the cavity up with water and see if it comes out the exhaust.

2) PO Repaired????? What did he do? Less than a stringer replacement, he did whatever it took to unload the boat! Sorry!! Most likely a shade tree job at best. No weep hole - there's not supposed to be water in there.

3) Don't go drilling anything that's not supposed to be there to begin with. Find the problem and post some pictures.

If a complete stringer job is done, and it's a no foam rebuild, that's the time to look at weep holes.

The original stringers did in fact have drains to allow the exhaust cavities to drain into the bilge. Sounds like yours were rebuilt incorrectly. When the drains in my Tique were plugged with debris, those pockets would accumulate water pretty quickly- and I didnt have any leaks. Do inspect your hoses and mufflers, but I suspect what youre seeing is normal for not having any drains.

Well, all of the winterizing talk has gotten me thinking it is time to succumb to the coming season. I dropped off the seats at the upholstery shop today. Now, for that "repair". Although I am still trying to upload pics for the people at home, I have a few hypotheses:

1) Someone wrapped the glasspaks in gray astroturf. One 6" wide strip in the front, one in the rear. The bottoms of the turf are covered in bilge gunk. Those are definitely restricting the flow. I think the water in the bilge is sloshing around the drain points at the stringer/transom location and into the area forward of the paks-where the rubber hose is. There are no weep holes under the aluminum grid where the engine rests.

2) The stringer repair that has been done...I would not call it "sistering". I would not even call it "step-sistering" Rather, the neighbor girls run about 8 inches on each side of both stringers. They are wrapped in fiberglass and through bolted. To the credit of the handyman, he did use biaxial cloth. I will tear into it this winter. Depending on the shape of the stringers, I may opt to scarf in place of a complete stringer job.

Pics to follow once I figure out how to load them. Thanks for the replies so far. I am looking forward to more advice.

Here is a picture showing the weep holes on my 79SN. They are under the rear motor mounts. There are also notches at the transom on the bottom. Hope this helps. Monty

Keep us posted as to what you find when you start digging into the project. I highly recommend a complete stringer job over a patch/sister/scarf.

The astro turf around the mufflers is the factory's method of vibration/abrasion control.

When I first started removing the floor and stringers I noticed that a previous owner had replaced the section where the motor mounts. They didn't have the limber holes under the rear motor mount. I copied them of of the dimensions that Roger UK79 sent me.
I think it would be very difficult to try and drill holes on your existing stringers. You probably still have the drain holes at the back where the stringers meet the transom. So if you raise the bow up it should drain. The carpet around the mufflers will hold back the water some but I went back with it on mine. I couldn't come up with an alternative I liked.
The patch job on your stringers may get you by for a while, But be sure and do an alignment on your boat. I am with the others that scarfing or piecing in stringers is wasting time and money. Once you start checking you will find how bad your old ones were. Mine were mush. Replacing stringers is very labor intensive but there is lots of help from people that have already done it. My suggestion is replace your exhaust hose, check your rwp impeller(overheating causes hoses to fail) check alignment. and use the boat. In your spare time read up on the stringer threads and then you will be ready. tick tick tick......... Monty

I used the corrugated from the manifolds to the mufflers and smooth wall for the short pieces in back from the mufflers to the thru hull. Double clamp all fittings below waterline. Monty

Mike,
There are other sources of marine exhaust hose like go2marine but I suggest getting the 6'. If one side had a hole in it, then the other side may be ready to blow too!!! Change both sides.

When you do the repair on the fiberglass muffler, don't forget to get some fiberglass besides the epoxy on it. Epoxy is the adhesive and the glass is the structural.

BTW, they aren't "glasspaks"!!! They are fiberglass but they aren't packed with glass for the sound reduction. Just some baffles and the water do the trick.

The picture you just posted shows the stringer patch job the PO did from a different angle. Also in the 3rd and 4th pictures you posted originally in the thread, it shows another problem area. All I can say is do plan on a re stringer job for your boat! Have you checked the engine/shaft alignment?

I hope the purchase price was adjusted for the stringer condition and a replacement in mind.

WOFTAM wrote: What else do you see? The tall are of the stringer in front of the tank? I had my eye on that. As for checking alignment, how does one go about that?

I was looking at a spot where the glass is cracked and separating from the wood.

Take a look at this thread by Eric