CP19 Bilge Question

[DanN]

I was looking at a CP19 today and am considering putting in an offer.    But the one thing that worried me was the bilge -- when I checked it out, there was a long thin triangular piece of rotted fiberglass and below it, a bunch of damp sand and kelp.    Under the sand, there was a smoother, harder surface.     Is the sand just the normal crud that one would find in a bilge, or has the fiberglass piece detached allowing the concrete ballast to start disintegrating?    Or is there an additional barrier below?    One would think that a bilge would be pretty watertight, but my CP16 is sitting in the yard with half its keel missing because water penetrated down to the keel and froze, so I'm a bit paranoid about this.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?   Anything else that one should look carefully at in a  used CP19?    As near as I could tell, the outside of the keel didn't have any bubbles or cracks.

Thanks!


Dan N.

[Tim Gardner]

A picture would be worth a thousand words, but are you saying the fiberglass bulkhead at the front of the bilge is detached? Or is it the cover , or hatch over the bilge  that you are describing?

TG

[DanN]

Well, let's see if this works:  <The bilge with the triangular fiberglass bit that should probably be at the bottom./>

<Bilge with some of the sand rubbed away./>

[JTMeissner]

See if I can help a bit:

The bilge with the triangular fiberglass bit that should probably be at the bottom.


Bilge with some of the sand rubbed away.

-Justin

[Coyote]

Well this is six months ago but since there is no reply I will say this.
A bilge should be dry, as in always.
No good ever comes from water in the bilge.

These pic suggest that about 6" or more of water 'lived' in the bilge for a period of time,
I think the triangular piece  yo are describing could be the tabbing that is layed-up over the cement keel,
cannot tell if this would be sand from the cement.
But the concern I would have is that the cement is now wet, likely there could be water migrating down the keel stub.
This would need to be dry-up before re-enclosing, how to? not sure...
Drilling weeping holes at the bottom and sides of the keel and letting it dry for a (long) period of time?

Sincerely,

Coyote

[skip1930]

Bilge picture looks fine. Nothing to rot in there.

This little picture shows the electric pump, the discharge hose, and the inlet hose for the manual pump.

I just epoxied the base of the pump to the fiberglass bilge and the pump snaps on that.

The inside of this area must be free of paint so nothing flakes off and plugs up the impeller.

I pack some beer down there and dump in a bag of ice for the evening.
Pump out the water after melting. Good pump test too.

skip.