Lost my speedo foot, and pulled a screw out of the transom. Screw did not go all the way through. But water did find it's way into the bildge. When we pulled the boat out on the trailer, water poured out of the screw hole.

What is the best way to dry the transom before repairing the screw hole? I've got about 10 days before our next boating event.

I would hit it two ways. First with a fan for a few days then get one of those 500 watt worklights from Home Depot and put it near the hole with light shining on it. They generate some heat so don't put it too close but yet close enough that the gel coat is very warm to the touch. That should dry it out enough to put some silicone or epoxy in the hole to seal it.

i've used a heat gun before....

eek! how long did it sit in the water like that? i'm just wondering how much water it may have soaked up in the trasome......you may want to pull the drain plug housing out as well and see if water dripps out from in between the transome there too.....since its the lowest point.
If you have a vacume pump, i would say to maybe hook that up and try and extract as much water as possible....
not sure if youre gonna be able to dry it out completely in 10days though (depending on how much there is in there)

It sat in the water a total of four days, and I don't know when during that time it happened. Speedo apeared to work okay the whole time, but when pulling it out of the lake, there the foot was, just dangling. So it must have broken off right at the end. In hindsight, I think it was loose for a while. The bildge had water in it during that time, but I credited a huge thunder / hail storm as the cause.

What is the likely outcome of trying to dry it over 10 days, patching it up then, and redoing the drying over the winter?

yea you can do a "temp job" for now and fix it later......dry it as best you can till before you leave and use some good under water silicone to patch it up so you dont get more water in there...
just dont let it sit in there too long or its gonna start rotting and then you have problems!!!

There is the temporary fix that you have already discussed or hit Boat US or West Marine and get thier rot repair kits. I know that your boat is hopefully not rotted but you can use this kit and they work very well for situations like this.

Jon

Audio: Great minds think alike. . . . and so do ours

I was just thinking about that epoxy for rotted wood and wondering if:

- It was runny enough to be inserted under preasure and flow up like the water did?

- would it work while water was still in the transom?

- would it trap the water in the transom and actually cause more trouble?

I'm pretty sure the water got wicked through the transom more than I want to think about. There is no corresponding hole inside the boat caused by a screwnear the speedo foot. Not that it is unsafe or rotted now, but it is dis-heartening nontheless. The hole is close to the plug drain, and about even with it. So I probably won't pull that assembly before the winter layup. I don't have a vacuum pump, but try to get one or fabracate(sp) something for the next few days. Or just let the sun and the blacktop driveway bake it.

you might try to find someone with a moisture meter, west marine sells them price is 499.99 it would be nice to know what percent of moisture you have in the transom, then that way after say 8 days of drying you could check it, and it might be just fine, are at least it would let you know its to high and you will have to go back in there later, part# is 1145275

How about drilling the wet hole out to like 1/2" diameter all the way thru the transom. Then you can put a desk fan inside the transom and let it blow thru it for 9 days. Then you can MarineTex the hole by Qtipping MTex all inside the hole and then filling from the inside and taping a "dam" on the outside and finishing filling from the inside and taping shut there too. Will set up hard in a few hours and can be redrilled for the screw. Use 4200 or 5200 to seal the screws for the pitot when you reattach.

The 1/2" hole is for several reasons:

a) air can evaporate moisture MUCH better in a thru hole.
b) a Qtip won't fit in a small hole and the MTex won't get as good of a bond/seal if it is not rubbed into the surface well.

I'd be scared to temporarily seal in known moisture.