Wellcraft Design Defect?

[tezam]

I have a year 2000 Wellcraft 18' Fisherman center console sitting in my driveway. For protection from the rain, I keep the center console and last half of the boat covered with a tarp; even so, I still get a reddish- brown watery mixture below deck after each rain. The reddish-brown watery mixture ends up in the battery and oil tank compartments, overflowing into the aft bilge. I’m perplexed as to how this strange watery mix is finding its way below deck since I have caulked or covered every seam or hole I could see as a possible access. Anyone having this same problem?

[fede]

reddish/browm might be a signal of rust somwhere,check for stuff screwed on the deck,and carefully check if any of those screws are rusty.
There might be water leaking through those screws and this would explain why 1) you get water in 2) water looks reddish/brown

Check for screws in contact with metals of a different nature (ie stainless steel screws in contact with aluminium ) for example at the rail stachion bases.

How is the C. console fixed to the deck ? is it screwed in ?

I'm not a surveyor, just my 2 cents.

[tezam]

Thanks for the tip. No exposed console screws are obvious. Gunnel screws and hatch screws had been re-sealed/re-caulked.

[Quicksilver]

maybe this could help. If you use paper towels or something similarly absorbent you could dry everything up and put a ring of towels around the bilge. If it seems appropriate you could line the whole bilge with them, in case like fede said it could be coming from the console.

Of course this test would have to be carefully regulated, but you could probably do it with a hose systematically, instead of waiting for rain. It sounds like a big leak, so it might not be too hard to find. Just have to keep narrowing down the suspect area.

[Tim B]

Stainless bolts and zinc-plated nuts or washers? or is it a slow leak of red anti-freeze from the engine?

Quicksilver's suggenstion is good. See if you can find where it's coming in.

Tim B.

[tezam]

Thanks again. Just put boat in garage, but will try hosing down bit-by-bit next spring. 115 HP Yammy outboard, so no antifreeze. All bolts/screws that I can see are stainless. I'm more concerned about the reddish-brown portion of the mixture than the actual leak.

[longliner45]

could it be farring compound,,,getting wet?

[tezam]

LONGLINER45: Do you mean that the hidden fiberglass surfaces may be dissolving when it gets wet? If so, why would it ooze out "red"? Also, shouldn't fiberglass be impervious to water? Any tip as to how I could find this out without cutting up my deck? I have a 10" access hatch in the deck to the top of my gas tank, but it looks solid white in there. I also have a 8" access hatch to my forward bilge, but haven't looked yet. I'm sure there will be some water there, but if it's like last year, it was clear. Whatever is oozing red, it's not readily accessible.

[longliner45]

Ok dont know how your boat is built,,but mine ,,,was in a barn for30 years,,when I took possesion it had never been in weather,,so due to my neglect I didnt think it would hurt to let it get a little wet. what happened was water got inside,,my through bolts were not completed ,,,meaning nothing between the lead and wood ,,ie,,okum or 5200 . so water passed though and got into my keel,,delaminating a small section of glass,,..red bleed through,,it was fairing compound. now i dont know what your boat was built like but not too much stuff is red,,can you show some pictures?and Im sure someone knows more than me about this

[tezam]

LONGLINER45: Thanks again ...I'll have to look much closer, perhaps through my forward anchor locker with a mirror to see if I could see whether a portion of the keel is oozing red into the water accumulation. Probably too tight to see more than a couple feet though. For info, the mixture as it lays in my aft bilge white deck looks red, but when I soak it up and fill a mayo jar, it is almost blackish with a red tinge. No viscosity to it in the water, but when I spill a few drops and let the water evaporate, it is a hard, dark gunk.

[Bob S.]

Sounds kind of like rotting stringers or rotting transom bleeding out into the low areas.

[tezam]

Bob S.-Thanks for the response. It's not the transom since the mess accumulates first on a fiberglass ledge a foot or two in front of the transom on each side of the boat. I don't remember seeing any exposed stringers...or any wood for that matter. Of course my view is severely restricted below deck. I may have to rent or hire a video service similar to an endoscope to confirm something like that. If that's what it is, it's a total bummer!

[Quicksilver]

I wouldn't freak out yet, none of us can see this water so, with as much experience as we all have I think were shooting in the dark. I hadn't thought of the limited access of a center console.

If the water is on each side of the boat would it make sense to say maybe the water is running on the underside of the deck first and then falling on both side of the transom. I don't know how else it could do that.

Another thing you said you were able to collect some of this water. I'm thinking, get a filter, something small through, run the water though the filter to get any particulate matter. Then rinse this material into a small container, using a minimal amount of water. Then simply use a magnet to determine whether this is rust. If it doesn't stick I think we'd have to assume then it is either wood or fairing compound.

Stick around the forums for a while in case you give up, this holiday I'll ask a few people about this, I've got a couple people in mind.

[tezam]

Quicksilver: Okay...I've calmed down now. You're correct that the water may also be running on the underside of the deck. Last week when I was reaching in my bow anchor locker as far as my arm could reach, I was surprised that my arm brushing up against the underside of the deck came out wetter than my hand on the bottom the bow bilge area. At some point, the water must be dripping off the upper deck and running along the bottom insides of each gunnel...eventually reaching the bilge area aft. My guess is that the underside moisture is condensation, but I may be wrong. The next time I get some of the mixture collected, I'll do the magnet test that you suggest. I read somewhere that some gas tanks with the ethanol gas blend are dissolving, which got me thinking and hand-wringing that this may be a source of the reddish-brown mix; however, an email inquiry to Wellcraft came back assuring me that my tank was not fiberglass (plastic I think he said...but probably meant polyethylene). Thanks for the constructive comments...I'll be checking back...and I appreciate your time.

[messabout]

You have been diligent about checking the usually suspected sources of water ingress. You have the boat covered with a tarp. If the tarp is plastic or otherwise totally water proof, then you have set up a condesate factory. The volume of the condenste will depend on the humidity and heat/cool cycles of your location. Fiberglass boats are really good at producing this kind of problem. The red stuff can not be readily explained by the condensation possibility. Therin lies the mystry.