That looks nasty. Is that glass or the top of the tank in the the last pics?

shift boots go thru the transom cut-out. water coming in there won't damage the transom. it'll just sink your boat, which in the long run would damage the transom...

That's an access plug that's located in the step going into the cabin, not gas tank. What you are seeing is the bottom of the hull. It's nothing more than for a looky see as its only an inch deep. My '94 was just like that and it being wet wasn't uncommon. Water from the bilge would run thru the drains up to the front and get trapped as the drains where not at very very lowest point. I eliminated that problem by simply putting rubber stoppers in the bilge drains to keep water from running forward. Bone dry after that $1 fix.
DD, you gotta really raise the front way in the air to get the bottom front high. Go buy the keel as focal point, not the rub rail or deck.
Your transom does look good from pics, and only by those pics. Sorry about drain plug suggestion. Brain fart. Duh!

Engine alignment, in a nut shell yes, but with a little more thought. Concentrate on bulkhead for now.

I'm curious if to the dulling tap sound you are hearing on the stringers is were the glass is ran down onto the hull bottom and not fully in contact with stringer, like the glass has pulled away from stringer during layup? Just a thought

Why you say sorry bout drain plug suggestion? So far everything he has looked at has reassured him it isn't as bad as feared. To OP: You see a buncha wood looks ok. NOW go get a small thing of resin-auto parts store version will do-and mix some up and paint every bare wood surface you see before putting the stuff back...

Once you hoist the front up really high, maybe swap the hose on a shop vac and plug the hose into that hole and blow nice warm dry air in there for a while.

Very good advice there most of you guys dont know just how humid and wet portland is....its wet and humid all winter aka the swamp. It would probably take a week of being indoors and multiple fan's blowing to dry out a boat of that size. Dave never miss a day of sunshine alway's open her up fans blowing and let it breathe a bit and be sure to close her back up before the sun sets or you will get gallon's of condensation settling all over again...just a thought...

Because I was thinking transom, forgetting that the drain plugs are not in the transom on the Fountains. I had my Bajas transom in mind when replying. Nothing more, but I agree, the more good he finds the better.

Also used to put a small fan blowing into that step to dry it out for a couple days.I could feel the air blowing out the bilge drains when doing so.

Thank god! I was hoping someone would give me that answer... although it would have offered some closure to my rotten stringer and bulkhead forensic analysis...

No worries about the drain plug, like said before it's nice to know for sure! Might just order a shiny stainless one to replace the tarnished brass one It did polish up nice though...

Since the bulkhead needs redone anyways, would anyone recommend just eliminating this drain altogether? If not I will plug it for sure.



I went through all my posts and I forgot to mention that besides the "hollow" noise when tapping I can actually push on the side of the stringer in the most hollow sounding spots and it flexes. That being said, is what you said still possible? I would think if it was completely hollow and rotten my hatch ram at minimum would have ripped itself out of it's mounting holes or me standing on top of the stringer when working back there would have made it collapse?

I don't have any wood showing anywhere at this point I haven't drilled into anything... except for my foot going through the bulkhead lol! What do I seal the drain plug back up with? 4200? 5200? Something else? It was white and somewhat pliable but a pain to get off. Also what do I reseal the exhaust tips to the transom with? It was black sealant of some sort there. And do you guys seal the holes the screws for these components go in with something also? If so what do I use?


So I went out there after Easter brunch and raised the nose as high as the jack would take it. I already had two cinder blocks under there but it had about five cranks left in the jack. After that I cobbled together this bad boy:








The milk jug pour spout fits just perfect in the wet glory hole so I'll just let that baby blow down there for a week or two?
I want to dry this hot mess out I really don't like the idea of nasty rotten moldy water slime under my cabin!

Is anyone in agreeance with my theory that my newly discovered water being trapped under the cabin caused my bulkhead and stringer rot? I wish I had xray vision so I could see under the cabin and know what is going on underneath with those drains in there!

If I was you when you replace the bulkhead I would get rid of the drain. Plug it at the other end.

Did it cause the rot,,,,,,, hard to say. You know at this point the big thing is if you are going to fix it before the season or after. If you are going to do it now you have to get the motors out and at that point you will really be able figure things out.

For screws and such I have been using life seal. I think Brian41 sugested it on here. Issue with 5200 you will not be able to get it apart again.