Thomas Buzzi <thomaspbuzzi@gmail.com> [image: Attachments]Sep 30 (1 day ago) to For *6* of *4,945* Re: M_Boats: What to do if you want to put an M-boat in Salt water fora time.. Hi Gail, Now how to STOP the help from coming in.🤔 I have fiberglass hulled boats in Galveston Bay for over thirty years starting with a Monty 17. As long as the bottoms were painted the marine life could be contained. As far as Monties are concerned the only "Achilles heel" I can see is the aluminum tube fiberglassed into the hull for the cockpit drain. It is below the waterline so is subject to galvanic corrosion, especially in salt water where there are other dissimilar metals in the area and especially in a marina full of boats with shore power and current leaking into the water from them. My Monty never sprung a leak there but I think I just lucked out in that the aluminum tube was not exposed to the salt water due to its being painted inside the tube. I would check that in your boat with a flashlight. If the tube is dirty, clean it with a rotary brush on a hand drill. You can buy extensions for the brush that will in turn chuck into the drill. That will give you a good look at the inside of the aluminum tube. If you see ANY bare metal it is time to get some epoxy and generously coat the inside of the tube with it after it is well cleaned with that steel brush. I have even considered removing the aluminum tube and replacing it with a bronze seacock which would also involve cutting a hole in the aft wall of your cockpit to gain access to the cockpit drain area. I have already installed an access panel in this area for other reasons and found it IMMENSELY handy for gaining access to the rudder gudgeons, stern light wiring as well as transom ladder bolts and the cockpit drain. All I did was draw a line all around the inside edge of the aft wall of the cockpit, two inches in. That will end up with a rectangular shape. I then drilled holes with a 1 inch hole saw at the corners to relieve tension in the hull and cut the rest out with a saber saw or a cutoff saw that vibrates side to side at the end of an electric motor mounted in a handle. Very handy tool also. When the fiberglass piece was removed I found a plastic cutting board that would cover the hole plus give me room to drill holes around its perimeter. I then stuck a piece of foam gasket to the remaining wall of the cockpit and screwed the cutting board in place using ss sheet metal screws. It is easily removable, water tight and allows inspection of some very important parts of the boat. Since then I have installed a 6 inch diameter screw in access hatch in the cutting board so I can instantly gain access to the thru hull for the cockpit drain. Here is a picture before I enlarged the access panel and installed the screw out inspection plate available at marine supply outlets everywhere. Have fun, Tom b On Fri, Sep 30, 2016 at 1:04 PM, Gail Russell <gail@zeliga.com> wrote:
No need to stop the help. I love it. There is a reason I have been lurking on this list for 5 years when I have had no sailboat.