McKee 16 hull weeping brown goo

Questions about boat repairs with our resins and fiberglass: hull patches, transoms and stringers, foam, rot etc.
Rob Eades
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McKee 16 hull weeping brown goo

Post by Rob Eades »

My 2001 McKee 16 is leaking brown sticky liquid from drilled mounting holes on both the bow and stern.In both cases the holes are well above the sole and water line.The hull over all is solid and in very good condition.FYI, McKee hulls are completely foam filled just like a Boston Whaler.

Any idea what is going on here?

Rob

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Re: McKee 16 hull weeping brown goo

Post by fallguy1000 »

OK, I'm a noob with a Whaler, but I saw your post, so thought I'd speak. I won't be the one to advise you on fixes.

I'd say you need to give a little more detail to your issue before anyone can really help assess the situation. Can you explain a bit better? Or give a picture?

Like, how long the holes have been there? Are they new? If you drilled new holes and brown sticky fluid started weeping, it would seem as though you have some ingress prior to the hole drilling caused by something else. If the holes are above the waterline, is there any other holes above them?

If they are old holes, you also may have ingress, but from the hole itself not being sealed well from rain or splash. If there is goo coming out of an old hole; it either wasn't sealed well or some pressures forced it out.

Furthermore, Boston Whalers do have wood in them in strategic locations. I cannot attest to the McKee, but another possibility is wood rot. I would try to find out if there is backing wood in the location of the goo. Remove a mounting screw and get out a dental pick and see if there is a cavity (rot) if you can do so nondestructively.

Rain or hydraulic pressure would be two possible explanations for water in the hull above the waterline. Hopefully it is rain. Hydraulic erosion would be from a wet hull that has forced water all over from water pressure. David Pascoe has a great article on it. Basically, water gets into the bottom of the boat (somehow) inside and through the foam, and then pounding or simple use of the boat on the waves drives the water all over the place and the water movement erodes the foam mechanically. Water also moves through capillary action or wicking in closed spaces. Good luck-do some closer inspection and post some more details and some of the guys with 40 years of boating might have something to go on..
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jacquesmm
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Re: McKee 16 hull weeping brown goo

Post by jacquesmm »

The post above is correct. Something is rotten, either foam falling apart or wood.
It is not easy to repair a foam filled boat.
If you can locate and remove all the loose foam and ry the inside, you could pour new foam in it but it rarely works.
Sorry for the bad news.
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Cracker Larry
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Re: McKee 16 hull weeping brown goo

Post by Cracker Larry »

Rob, are you the same fellow who asked the same question on the Charleston Fishing forum?

Fallguy is on the money. You've got to take out all the fittings, drill them out a little and check the core. The transom in that boat is almost certainly plywood and probably has a good bit of rot. That's repairable.

If the foam core is saturated through out, that is a very tough boat to repair due to it's construction method. The best way to tell the amount of water saturation, without drilling holes all over it, is to weigh it and compare it to the original factory weight. If that hull is saturated, I wouldn't attempt to repair it, I'd sell it for what I could get and move on.
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Re: McKee 16 hull weeping brown goo

Post by jacquesmm »

Agree. If it's the transom, the boat is salvageable. If it's the foam, I wouldn't do it.
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Rob Eades
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Re: McKee 16 hull weeping brown goo

Post by Rob Eades »

Yep, I'm the guy who posted on the CF forum.

It seems I have three experienced guys telling me about the same thing,so I guess I've got my marching orders.I'll focus my attention on the stern and maybe a couple of test drills at hull low points.I've got lots of marinetex, so I can patch holes about as fast as I can drill them. :?

Rob

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