Drying boat without separating hull from deck

L

Lakeland Phantom

New Member
I just got a Howmar Phantom (a 14-ft version of the Sunfish) for free.

The hull and deck are separating over a 1-foot section of the boat. It has been sitting outside and upside down for many years and some water has gotten inside the boat. I now have the boat in my garage out of the rain. From reading some other threads it looks like there is nothing inside the boat that should be too damaged - assuming the Phantom is very similar to the Sunfish.

I periodicially tilt the boat so the separating section of the deck is down and about a cup of water flows out. What is the best way to get all the water out before I seal up the separating deck. The boat currently has a small drain plug in the deck at the bow but no water seems to drain from the plug.

I've read something about installing ports to get new foam in the boat but I have no reason to believe any foam is loose or broken. A port may be a good way to open the boat up to dry. How and where would I put ports? Would the ports be permanently sealed after the boat is dry or can they be sealed temporarily and remain to be opened later for drying the boat if needed.
 
Phantom,

The water likely leaked in via a smaller crack in the deck seal, and living in Delaware, the freeze-thaw cycle probably exacerbated it, resulting in your split lip. The cup of water periodically coming out is probably the water making its way out of the styrofoam blocks, which do absorb them over time if immersed.

The water, of course, will drain to the lowest place it can. Inverted, with the separated area lowest, will drain it, and right now it's the most effective. The drain plug will only drain off water that's higher than itself. You'd have to wrestle with your boat, tilting it to and fro, for that last cup to come out. Once you seal the lip, and you're still taking in water, you can use the drain plug, and mop up anything else through the inspection port you're going to install.

Dry, warm, circulating air is the surest way to completely dry out your fish. The inspection ports would be a great way to accellerate this process, plus give you a theoretically watertight place to stash wallet, keys, cell, lunch, etc. The ports are usually circular, with a screw-out plate, but there are others that are rectangular, with a hinged hatch. My preference is the round one, there's fewer moving parts to fail, and my intuition tells me the seal is more reliable, but I don't have anything to back it up.

If your boat doesn't have a specific mechanical failure compelling you to place a port in a particular area, the most functional place to put one would be near the daggerboard trunk, or near the rudder, they're the areas that you're most likely to need to inspect for non-leak related reasons. I'll defer to others on this board for specific recommendations.

They're fairly straightforward to install, and reasonably cheap. Good addition in my book.
 
hey, i tried to attach a diagram. If it didnt show this most likely wont make sense. On my first boat i dried it out extensively. I put an inspection port in the locations marked with the red circles. In the one near the dagger board trunk, i placed a hair dryer on low. the heat didnt hurt my foam at all if your wondering. On the rear port i placed one of those drier tubes (silver and stretch), and placed it over the port and then taped it down so it would stay in place. On the other end of the tube i took an old copier paper box top, cut a hole in it, and then placed the end in the hole. I then took a dehumidifier and placed the box top right in front of it so that it would suck it up. After 2 or 3 days of basicly non stop drying, i switched the hair drier and the dehumidfier to the other port. By the time i was finished it was an easy 100 pounds lighter (took 3 grown men to lift this thing from the back yard where we purchased it to get it to the trailer, and just me and my dad when we where finished with this whole process.). We did this whole set up in our basement.

As for the instalation of the ports, you will need a saw of some sort (i find a jig saw works best). When you purchase the ports you, just take the outer ring and trace it onto the deck, then make sure you cut just to the INSIDE of the line so that the port wont fit. then take off little bitts untill it fits just right. Once you have the ring fitted, take a marine grade silicon and put a bead down. let dry and you have yourself a port. the ports have little covers that screw into the ring so they are very removable if you want them open, but wont just unscrew themselves.

Hope that answered all of your questions!
 

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Thank you all for your suggestions.

Strumolo,

Will the inside of my boat be one big compartment, or divided compartments? Were you blowing dry air in one side and then drying the damp air as it came out of the boat to be recirculated back into the boat again by the hair dryer?

Lakeland Phantom
 
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