how worried should i be - moisture
 

I keep my boat dry as a bone when in the water. The only water that gets in is from rain when sitting if any... I shopvac that out. I have noticed after running for a day that i will have a little water in the bottom, but not much. .....could something be flexing to allow water in while running?...when i purchased the boat ..i had it surveyed with a thermographer. I showed some small areas of 20% moisture -only in a couple small patches, but the odd thing is that it was above the water line......around the bellows was fine. although percussion sounding with mallot was good..no blisters on transom and hull only had a few.....no stress cracks in transom.....Well, this worried me so i had a core taken from inside inbetween the drives, and it was at least solid. not black or wet I had the swim platform rebuilt, re-layed up and used balsa instead of the stock plywood. also , to be sure, i pulled all screws out and resealed them with silicone. I had to add supports to the new platform. when i drilled the holes in the lower corners of the transom near the chines, the wood was wet, the owner before me replaced the plug housing and mentioned to me, that i may want to keep out of water, but he seemed pretty anal,....the boat was always racked before me..........I'm aware that there is some moisture in the transom already, but like you said, its older and didn't cost too much.................Does transom wetness normally come from bilge or outside..........I 'm just trying not to add to the problem if i can and i'm carefull with it....don't beat it too bad......maybe i worry too much, .............what telltale signs should i look for before failure...god forbid.?.................people say that the wood was just something to lay-up to when building..is this true to some degree?...............any ways of drying out?..........before i start a novel..haha, isn't kind of common to have some moisture in transom.......i bought the problem, but how big of a problem could i make it do to lack of knowledge.....

I appreciate any input, knowledge, or history.......
thanks,
the worry wart

Re: how worried should i be - moisture
 

-edited-

Replied before I read your whole post.

Ran across another boat this weekend that had some water coming in through the trim tab cable openings. As best you can tell, everything is well sealed, correct? Perhaps you have something that has been compromised as it passes through the hull.

Re: how worried should i be - moisture
 

It's possible that it is condensation that is collecting. If you have your boat in water that is cold and are in a warm humid climate, you will get condensation on the inside of the hull... not much... but it does add up. It's possible that you don't see it because it is collecting in the unseen bilge areas.