Got a serious problem I think... need advice...
 

Well, I have been detailing the boat for hours. And I was spraying the floor down with the garden hose as I was scrubbing it. Then I moved onto the vinyl cleaning...

Well when I opened the hatch to get some areas that were covered, I discovered this...

There is water between the stringers, and it doesn't go anywhere. I am assuming water is not supposed to get in there. And as you can tell, the water on the port side stringers sure seems to have some balsa floating in it.

What do I do?

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I'd pump it out or sponge it out and then start looking for any clogged drains or anyplace the water may be coming from. If it sits there too long you can start to have it soak into the stringers.

I already shop vac'd it out of there, its dry now. But I can't believe this would be normal if the deck got that wet?

Thanks for the input! :ernaehrung004:

Just curious did you just wash the inside of the boat or the boat in general or may be it might be some rain water from sitting, being it is the first time you opened the hatch. Just an idea.

No, the boat was dry before this, I washed the deck it was pretty stained, so I soft scrubbed it brushed it. Got it spic and span, and washed it down with a healthy amount of water and boat wash.

Then a few hours later I noticed the water sitting in there.

I'm sorry but I do not know what you mean,So be for you washed the floor did you lift the engine hatch up and look around for any water in there ?

Correct. The engine compartment/bilge were completely dry before I started washing the deck.

The water in there is from me washing the deck.

What I want to know is: Is the water supposed to drain in between the stingers like that? If so, why is the water just sitting there and not draining completely into the bilge? Is there supposed to be drains between those little channels, or is water never supposed to be in there in the first place?

That depends on how it was originally designed. Generally stringers have holes cut in them near the rear bottom of them for water to drain. From all the crap floating in there, they might be clogged.

I just have to wonder how all the water got in just from washing the deck. It really shouldn't. The only thing I can think of is that it came from your pop up cleats.

Well, when I was washing the deck. I sprayed pretty good up near the aft corners (the bottom corners of the rear bench kick panel) so instead of directing the water through the center access panel, quite a bit got pushed into either aft corner, I am assuming how it got into the stringers.

I just did not know if this was normal.

I would say yes this should be normal for how you washed the inside of the boat. If you look to the rear of the boat along the stringers you might see some holes that should be drains. some times you will need to lift the bow up to get it to drain. If you have no holes you might be able to add some holes to it some day if it looks safe to do it.