Wildman_grafix

Btw

I see a drain at the bottom by the stringer? Mine didn't have that does yours US1?

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

No. Mine doesn't have the drain either at the very bottom. My '94 did, but not my '99. Some point in-between I believe they did away with that lower drain in case of a tank rupture to contain the fuel to the tank compartment, or fumes from bilge to cabin. Heard both reasons.




Kinda wonder if you'll find more rot, considering your corrosion issues with your breakers? Hopefully you won't get into issues forward of that rear bulkhead. That'd be a big job if so

Diamond Dave

So I went out after work today and I opened up that hole my foot went through a little so I could try and peek in there with a flashlight and do some digging. I used a screwdriver and raked it across the the back of the hole pretty hard and it seemed very solid you can see the marks where I was scratching it in the picture. It looks like whatever is in front of that piece has disentegrated and left a gap between the bilge paint "shell" and the hard wood behind it.





I opened up the acess port for the fuel tank sender under the rear bench too It looked dirty down in there but nothing stood out as being rotten or currently wet but I can't see down around it. The black/ browness of the area is weird though maybe it was exposed to mold or something at some point? You can see the wood it's up against looks ok though.







This picture looks suspect to me only because of the white paint you see on the carpet. It is like someone didn't tape it off. When I stand in the rear seat compartment and "bounce" on the floor it has some give too... not like it's rotten but more like the wood is too thin. Maybe it is supposed to be this way? The white that is used there also does not match the rest of the whites patina in the engine compartment as well. I almost think this portion of the panel has been off and replaced. What do you think?



When I "tap" around the whole bulkhead with the handle af a screwdriver I can hear the pitch change pretty drastically and is seems to only be as high as the top of the center stringer and below the drain hole that goes through to the rear seat compartment you see in the next picture. It is the same on both sides of the stringer and about 12 or so inches outwards toward the next stringers if that makes sense.





The center stringer seems to be hollow to some degree in the whole area in this pic as well when I do my" tap test". It looks like someone (or the factory) has remounted the hatch ram and filled the holes for whatever reason since they seem to look like they would line up? If you look close there is paint on the ram housing and a few bolts too... Do you think these components should have paint on them or is someone covering up a repair? I guess I get paranoid when I see things like that but It may explain this situation??



In this next picture you can see a "raised" portion of the stringer that protrudes outward where the engine mount bolts to the stringer next to the red power wire. Everywhere around this protrusion is solid when I tapped on it but not underneath it to the rear by the bilge pumps on either side..I tested the rear of this stringer near the transom and it is only hollow sounding near the bottom edge maybe 1/2 to 3/4 the way up the stringer itself by the bilge pumps and the transom sounds solid when I beat on it as well in various places. The rear of the stringer at the transom is "notched" and has a cut out in it for the drain plug area. It seems to be soild there where it connects to the transom so I think I am safe there... knock on wood! lol





My boat has drain tube holes I see clear up under the front cuddy bed area in two little compartments. If I squirt water in the two "locker" areas under the bed it comes out right in the engine compartment where those two tubes are. When I got the boat I discovered those two "compartments" and it looked to have had standing water stains and crud/ dirt in them for whatever reason. They were slow to drain also so I reamed them out as far as I could go with two coat hangers hooked together awhich was as far as I could go before encountering resistance and they drain much better now. There was lots of black icky debris that came out of the rear drains while I was doing this. I really thought blocking those drains off would be a good idea since I cannot forsee a time where I would want water from the bilge sloshing and going back up those tubes forward, going who knows where before ending up in the front of the boat. They are obviously there for a reason but I can't see why they are there for the life of me... it's not like there will be gallons of water leaking in my bed that need drained directly into the bilge...


US1 and Wildman_grafix have stated the newer 32 Fevers do not have the center drains under the fuel tank that dump into the engine compartment. Can this have something to do with why this rotted out on mine? Maybe the drains are not sealed and have "wicked" up water into the bulkhead and center stringer and rotted them out. It would make sence if the last owner left standing water in the bilge all the time and it was in the drains.

My "other" hypothesis is that under the rear seat that panel has been rotted out and at some point replaced/ repaired. In doing so they did not realize the the full damage went down as far as it did (or did not care) and the center lower portion and center stringer were rotten as well. That would explain my prevoius corroded breaker problem, the odd paint I noticed under the bench seat area and how dirty the fuel tank looks from what I can see of it.

I really want to know what is "under" the fuel tank and if its anything I need to worry about being rotten as well.

So from what I gather with my exploration is that the engines need to come out to replace/ repair the center stringer... that is a given... but I am still at a loss for WHY this bulkhead and stringer is rotten where it is however? I need to figure the "cause" of this rot out before fixing it!

vintage chromoly

iTrader: (3)

They all rot.

Mostly from improperly sealed penetrations.

All those fasteners along the stringers will lead to rot if not sealed and the other bulkhead penetrations don't look well sealed either. That kind of thing is why a 20 year old wood boat gets rotten.

thirdchildhood

iTrader: (6)

Sorry to hear about this. It looks like someone may have deliberately covered up the problem. I wonder if that extra wood behind the motor mount and plates is factory? The good news is that there are plenty of Fountain guys and glass guys here to help guide you through the repairs. If you have time to really work hard on it maybe you can salvage this boating season. Good luck.

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

In regards to your 1st paragraph, I'm betting the hard surface you are feeling with the screwdriver is the back side of the glass that is inside your gas tank compartment. The wood grain you are seeing is just the outer skin which is bonded to the glass, the rest of the wood is gone.

I'm pretty sure my stringers have that built up look to them also. Probably to build up the spacing for the inside alum angle mounts. I have paint on my rear seat storage carpeting to. I'm not seeing anything that looks like previous work.

Be careful with your screwdriver tap test. You'll get a different sound when tapping in the middle of a panel vs when tapping along an adjoins panel or even the engine mount. Anything that adds some more rigidity can influence tap tone. Drill some small holes and read the chips

Wildman_grafix

Yes the main stringer is thicker in the middle. Also there seems to be two layers on the forward bulkhead, not sure why.

Why,,,,,,,,, Steve Stepp Told me once because they don't make wood that doesn't rot. Like Vintage said every one of those screw holes etc, are not sealed and water can get in. Its a pain to pull every screw and then seal them back up. Boat manufacturers don't do that.

Yes you will need to pull motors and then maybe find out where it started. As for getting on the water this year depends on how much time you have to work on it and if you have a good place to work on it.

It is time consuming,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, something I don't have any spare of.

bcfountain

one of the hardest things I have done on my boat is what your about to tackle.its hard ,nasty hot work but do able.do the tear out and de-rigging yourself.cut and fit the new wood or whatever you use.have a pro glass it all in.in the end your have a better built boat and your feel good about yourself.we have all been down that road.

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

Now that I think about it...
Maybe for a surface for the floor to rest on??

Wildman_grafix

That makes sense.

To the OP, I was in your "boat" and wondered the same thing. Then after talking to people and understanding a lot of boats will have these issues decided to fix mine.

Like BC said when you get done it will be better then the original. Just take a bunch of pictures as you Derig and it's not that bad putting it back togather.