Water driping from transom exhaust plates... Sh*** !

[olivier_20]

I need some advices on what to do or what do you think about that... I did a fresh air exhaust system on my sunsport 87 last weekend.
When we remove the exhaust cover and the plates screwed to the transom , some water start to drip from the bottom screw hole... not a lot but a slow dripping and when i push hard on each side of the bottom screw more water come off.

The starboard side is really the worse and i think i have a story for that :

I bought the boat last summer and had heating problem due to the raw water pump hose that was mostly block by parts of a destroyed
impeller of the previous owner :shock:....(he put a new impeller when he sold to us so). All this reduce dramatically the amount of the cooling water flow obviously. One day everything went really hot and even before the engine temp went high , BOOM ,the big rubber exhaust hose blow/melt and some smoke was coming off the floor and
from the stainless pipe of the same side. we drove back to the dock and let the boat a couple hour ,went buy a new rubber exhaust hose ,came back and the boat was starting to flood (water at the shaft level), took the boat out of water onto the trailer.

After several minutes of troubleshooting on what did that... we found pretty much a complete impeller in small pieces in the raw pump
hose so the heating and cooling problem was from there. But the transom (still on the starboard side) was kind of soot up. Exhaust cap
and plates remove and the seal arround the stainless pipe was mostly disapear/burnt/melt and even some gelcoat was missing :eek:...
We did a that moment a bit of gealcoating to fill up the small part missing and a big fat sealing joint arround the pipe and behind the
exhaust plate before screwing it back in place.

Since and after that ''repair'' no more water was entering the boat and the cooling was good untill i unscrewed everything to make the
F.A.E. !! now i have a new suprise and i'm pretty sure that mean the foam in the haul is soaking wet !!! I hope it's only that and the fiber
glass did not absorb some water if that is possible.

I want to use the boat ASAP and dont have time and especially the money right now to rebuilt everything.

I thought i could open the floor under the back seat , get access to the transom and the exhaust pipe by the inside , maybe i had to tooksome of the foam out and make a good high-temp silicone joint arround the pipe . I know this will be a temporary fix just for the season
(here in Quebec boating season is really short not much more than 3 months). Next autumn we plan to start real rebuilt...

SO NOW WHAT SHOULD I DO ?? Thanks a lot for your advices !!

** again sorry for my english , i did my best to get undestand... i'm french **

[olivier_20]

STARBOARD SIDE PIC (poor quality during F.A.E fabrication , all silicone/sealant was remove)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7077/7310755754_f8beeaeddf.jpg

PORT SIDE PIC (still during F.A.E fabrication , all silicone/sealant was remove)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7233/7310759876_384edf2f1e_z.jpg

[lively]

Just take a skill saw and set it too 1/2 " and cut some access holes , if u disturbed the flange that the supertrapps mounted too
( what u welded your straight pipe too ) then u need to reseal and throughbolt them ..

If and when u open a access hole to inspect water coming in and u find ( water ) then take pics and report back ;)

[Salty87]

looks like supratrapp flange on your transom. there were stacked plates that you removed?

the flange that's screwed to the transom meets the exhaust tube 2-3 inches in. it needs to be sealed and inspected periodically/resealed eventually.

you've got wet foam for sure. how wet is a complete guess. but, the inside of the hull runs downhill until you get to closer to the bow. it's a very common problem with this design. by the time water is coming out those holes, there's probably a bunch of wet foam...it never dries out, must be removed.

you should be able to run her for the season. check your motor mount bolts to make sure things won't shift around on you. make sure your bilge pump is up to a busy season. seal the exhaust tubes as good as you can for now. enjoy the beefy wake the wet foam is giving you.

[olivier_20]

Thanks guys for your answer/advices !

Lively: i did cut cut a hole with the skillsaw under the backseat and the foam is definately wet and some part are soaking wet...i'll removes the floor and the foam this autumn... Unfortunately i forgot my iphone that day to take a picture = SORRY, there was water laying there between those foam block but doesn't stink tho !!

Salty87 : yes there was multiple stacked plate with a cap and a nut (think is the supratrapp) , I did a good seal on the exhaust , my blige pump is working perfectly , the motor mount bolt are solid (i didn't torq to much but won't turn easy) , the transmission mount bolt are a bit easy to turn they kind of always spin and not grip into the stringer. And if the wake is bigger due to the wet foam i'll be more than happy unless it cause problem !!!

[lively]

I would drill some limber holes in the rear and remove the foam that is in the area of your cut outs ... a least then u would be able to seal pipe and drain
some of that remaining water ... just my 2 cents

[olivier_20]

i should wrote it.... but i did cut some foam and i use a little electrical pump to get all the ''laying'' water out (water that was ingest by the exhaust when the seal melt down :( ) The foam still pretty wet !!

[lively]

Use a sheetrock saw and get all the foam u can out ... park it on a steep hill and shopvac it out