[Rhodes22-list] Help

[Peter Thorn]

Alan,

Offhand suggest there may be two concerns: making sure you get all wood
inside the cabin completely dry to eliminate any chance of creating the
perfect breeding ground for mold spores; and determining if any of the water
on the bilge may have frozen, possibly creating fiberglass blistering or
spalling of the concrete in the keel.  I think the latter is a long shot,
but possible.

A few years ago CE classes for my state licenses were all about mold in
homes.  So, here goes...

Mold will grow when there are wood or wood products, moisture and heat, all
in the right combination, plus a few spores to get the process going.  A
sailboat with a wet bilge on a trailer in the summer could be the perfect
incubator.  You have discovered early, so relax because I doubt if it's been
warm enough yet to cause any real problems. There are more than 150,000
kinds but only a few types of mold are harmful to people.  If you eliminate
the moisture (or the heat or the wood products), mold cannot grow.
Obviously, for an R22, your best bet is get it dry.

Suggest to set up a tarp or tent over the boat, open the companionway and
set up a window fan to create a breeze through the cabin.  Open all ports
that will open and let the air flow through.  Remove everything you can if
you haven't already done that. Ventilate until bone dry and don't be
surprised if this takes several days.

There are powder products that contain Borax used in homes to treat mold.
Sorry, but the name escapes me, but pest control suppliers have them.  Mix
one pound per gallon of water and apply with a garden sprayer to the dried
out wood in the bilge so it will absorb..  Then, dry it out again.  It won't
hurt a thing to leave the Borax residue in the bilge or on the wood surfaces
as it kills mold.

Not sure whether it's a good idea to remove the plywood floor.  It's a lot
of work, but if you do it would be really easy to get at everything.  If you
leave the floor in place you can spot check the concrete around the cb well
and see if there is any white efflorescence (powdery residue) or spalled
concrete.  The big danger would be water sinking into the keel, then
freezing to spall and crack the concrete and/or frp surrounding the ballast.
You could take a plastic mallet and tap all around the keel or the part of
the hull that was full of water.  A hollow sound or thud would be bad a high
pitch "ping" would be good.  The R22 is pretty much built like a tank and I
guess it depends on how cold it got when full of water and how waterproof
the interior of the hull is.  One of the best reasons to paint the interior
bilge of a boat with bilge paint is to prevent water absorption into the
hull structure from the inside.  My gut tells me you probably don't have
freeze damage, but then I'm used to NC and our temperate winters.  An hour
or so poking around and inspecting should give you some indication if there
is a problem.

Good luck.

PT








----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Brown" <sugargroveumc at bright.net>
To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 2:51 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Help


> All,
> Tragedy has struck.
> The other day we went out to the boat (stared on its trailer for the
winter)
> and after all the hard work I did last summer basically rebuilding this
1977
> boat we found the it full of water. The water was up to the floorboards.
The
> rear hatch was full of water, and the floor that I put in last summer was
> wet. Last summer I rebuilt the drainage system, sealed all the windows and
> made sure everything was water tight.
> So the only thing that I can figure is that through out the winter the
rear
> scuppers became clogged and the water over flowed into the rear hatch and
> thus as the water collected it built up into the cabin and "there-in
squats
> the toad".
> My question is what should I do other than get the water out?
> And how much should I worry?
> If I put my boat on the lake and then leave it to for a week or two will
it
> be full of water when I return?
> Or should I just chuck it and auction it off on E-bay
> Help
> Alan
>
>
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