Moisture Meter at Home Depot
 

Anyone tried one of these Ryobi units they sell at HD?

Never seen one before until I was poking around in the tool section. Would be very cool if they were decently accurate for the $40 price tag.

Hmm.. good find!! If no one has tried one of these I may volunteer to be the guinea pig..

Ditto.
 

Great find Rt930.

I would warn as many may know, I think moisture tests have probably falsely labeled rot as often as accurately doing so.
That being said, unless someone says these things are junk I will have one within days.

well it does say ryobi on it so it must be pretty close to junk! If you do a search for home inspection tools I am sure you can find a better one for a reasonable price.

The label says "pinless"? How is it suppose to penetrate the glass in a hull, to detect if there is mositure UNDER/BEHIND the glass.... Just saying....

I think.....
 

that's the way the good ones work. Not positive though.
When I was doing cruisers on Lake Erie I knew many buyers who's deals evaporated due to a surveyor w/a moisture meter.
Course I was buying aluminum boats at the time ;)

pstori, good point. Bought a Ryobi cordless drill kit to replace my 20 yr old Makita set that just needed batteries. Bought the Ryobi kit for less than the price of two Makita batteries.
2 yrs later it's batteries no longer hold a charge.

I could see it being ok for bare wood,which I'd think it's more designed for, but not sure I would trust a $40 tool to determine if I'm going to take a saw to my hull.

Guys, those meters are only for porous materials, i.e.: wood, drywall, concrete, etc.
It will be utterly useless in the marine world for checking hulls.

Just had my 18 Donzi surveyed and he used a FLIR camera. It shows moisture, delamination and is alot more accurate then the moisture meter. The good news was not a sign of moisture anywhere on the boat. The surveyer said the camera is like $15,000.

Mark

mark
are you going to the boatshow in geneva next week

puss........:lolhit::party-smiley-004:

There yah go.
 

For 40 bucks I still want to play w/one though ;)

Read a really good technical article in one of my boat builder mag's about the use and accuracy of moisture meters a while back.
Their conclusion was not good. (given accuracy of meter and operator)

I still like what the old time surveyor told me 30 yrs ago. " I try to bury a #2 phillips screw driver (in the days of wood boats) in it. If it sticks, walk away. If don't, buy it".

We will be there. Not sure about the boat. My brother called too late and they are sold out. He is on a waiting list. We'll be up there either way we are doing the car Ralley in my buddys 73 TBird

You goin to be there?

Mark

I had a surveyor tel me one time that the core in my boat was wet and bad. . . . . . It was a solid fiberglass hull but he insisted his meter was showing wet lol. I knew it was solid but didn't feel like arguing the point.
I don't use those meters and have very little faith in any of them. The best method is still by sounding with a small tack hammer.

Yep.
 

I use a plastic mallet.

Yrs back I bought an old Hyrdostream Vector to play with and gave it the hammer test as they are notorious for rotted balsa core in the bottom due to really poor craftsmanship during the orig. build.
I only found one spot (dull thud) about 1' forward of the transom and about the size of a quarter. Went ahead and bought the boat as it was the cleanest I could find after a yr of looking.

I pulled up the floor to get to the core and starting digging just forward of the transom. Finally had it all when I go to the bow eye.

Fun boat, expensive lesson.

I have the one from JR Overseas and I would kind of agree that they are not a tool you can trust. Things I use are a deep socket hitting the area all over listening for the dull thump. That would be the wet rot or the dry rot or the hollow area - not good. A solid ting noise is good.

Also a small dremel tool or drill with a small drill bit to drill a small hole not too deep and see if the wood comes out wet or if water drips out. Again on the inside no more than half way, If good seal back up with Marine Tex Epoxy

I am pulling the engines out of my boat this winter. I am wondering if Im going to find any rot issues. I think its good but it is a 1992. If I beat around with a hammer and it all sounds solid am I good??

I use an upholsterers tack hammer, light bouncing taps and listen for pitch changes and hollow sounds. Sounding is also something that requires a bit of a seasoned touch. Don't be afraid to drill some test holes in suspected areas either, if its dry it only takes a few minutes to cap it back off. I use a one inch carbide tile bit for that with the center drill removed.

That is a prime place for...
 

rot and has probably ruined more boat deals than anything else. I would think with Fountains quality though they would have done it right and sealed all holes during construction.
The worst are the boats that have the mount's lag bolted to the top of the stringers. Even if sealed when built, w/heat, vibration, chemicals etc, it happens.
Tapping around the holes will tell a lot. Should sound like your tapping on the chrome bumper of a '69 Buick not a plastic bumper on a '99 Taurus.
Also look at the bolts when you pull them out and see whats on the threads. Then take a pick and poke around in the wood behind the glass.
If it's still in good shape, I'd thin down some resin and brush it into the holes. Resin does a pretty good job of protecting the wood but in it's natural state but it's too thick to soak into the wood very well. I use q-tips on small holes and chip brushes (small, cheap, disposable paint brushes) on the larger ones.