[Rhodes22-list] Bruce's Rotten Bottom continued ...

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Bruce,
 
Any progress re your rotten bottom?
 
You refer to the bottom being rotted out, but from your description I think  
you’re focused on the well in the table base - which on our boat would rust 
out,  not rot out.  Is the issue rust in the table base well or rot in or  under 
the cockpit flooring?
 
I’ve been concerned about water pooling in the table base well for some  time 
now - I can see how that could rust out over time.  I haven’t found a  
commercial waterproof cap that could stop pooling in that well yet.  Todd  has given 
me a link and I’ll follow up, a suitable cap may exist.
 
FWIW, last season, lacking a suitable commercial product, I tried a couple  
of different things to cap off or plug up  the table base well to keep  water 
out;  what worked best was a somewhat flimsy aluminum pie pan (flimsy  is good, 
because when the thing is finished you want to make the aluminum  conform to 
the entire base) trimmed down to slightly more than cover the entire  table 
base.  I found I had to epoxy a suitable number of washers and a bolt  to the 
center of the cover so that the whole thing wouldn't blow off.  I  center the 
washer and bolt in the well hole and press it all down to cover the  entire 
table base when we leave the boat.  After several iterations (mostly  adding 
weight to the cover so it wouldn't blow off) it works well in terms  of keeping 
water out of the table base well.  The bad news is that because  the aluminum is 
relatively flimsy the cover get’s bent dinged, etc easily;   it doesn’t look “
professional” and it only looks worse over time - but it works  well.   If 
your problem is a rusted out table base well, this type of  cap might get you 
through until you you get a chance to really take on the  repair.
 
Dave



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