I'm Gaining Weight!!!

sailor327

sailor327

New Member
it not me its actually my boat and i need some advice. i have a 1997 laser that has had some extensive repair where 1/2 of the rear deck was replaced and the whole boat was cleaned up and it looked like new a year ago. well it still looks really good but it seems to be gaining weight and getting heavier but there is no water in it? i have no clue what is going on. their seems to be a minor leak but all the water normally comes out and i dont hear any water in her, did they still use foam flotation back then or were they using the plastic cubitaners. any advice would be great. and in case you are wonder i dont have any portholes.
 
if you have to drain the boat after every sail then what might be hapening is that when water sits in the hull over time it is absorbed into the fiberglass which overtime would cause a slight gain in weight
 
Perhaps since the bionic parts were added it has been eating the rest of the fleet for breakfast




Seriously...did anybody actually weigh the thing??
 
Unless you weighed it right after the repair was completed, you are never going to know for sure since even if you weigh it now, you'll have nothing to compare it against. The major repair you are describing would be hard to do without having the boat pick up a few pounds just from the glass work required to join the new deck with the old.

The "this boat feels heavy/light" method of weighing is a great way to drive yourself nuts, but a lousy way to weigh a boat. Get it on some scales and at least get a weight now.

If the boat has a leak and there is no inspection port to let it air out and dry, then of course it's possible that is weighs more then it did after it was fixed. If you want it to stop it gaining, you need to fix the leak. If it weighs heavy now (say over 140 lbs) I would add a port and dry it out, ideally in a low humidity location with a small fan inside the hull. Depending on conditions and how wet it was on the inside it may take up to a few weeks to completely dry out.

They stopped using foam for floation back in the early-mid 1970's
 
I second 49208's advice.

1. use a bathroom scale to weigh it.
2. the fiberglass inside the hull CAN and WILL absorb GALLONS of water at a time, even though there's none sloshing around.
 
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