ballast tank failure

[owner23.5]

I was just reading in the "ask a hunter " forum and there is a fella that said his 1993 23.5 ballast tank had leaked and rotted the "core" in his hull which ruined the boat have any of you had this problem or heard of it prior to this? lastly how does one check for it? Ive watched mine like a hawk last summer checking every nook and cranny throughout the boat all summer long and not found any signs of water in the cabin, any input?

 

[Charlie13958]

Hunter will be back to work on Monday, 3rd. I will give them a call.

 

[Charlie13958]

Make that the 4th.

 

[George H260]

I believe the 23.5 is put together much like the later water ballast versions the 240, 26 and H260. There is no "core" to rot. The construction is all fiberglass. What probably happened is that the WB seal sprung a leak. This can happen by running the boat into a dock or a very hard grounding. If your boat has no leaks at all consider yourself very fortunate. You won't find many boats that don't leak eventually. The fun of boat ownership is locating the leak and plugging it.

If you want to lean more about water ballast and leaks go to this link:

http://h260.com/water_ballast/water_ballast_index.html

Here's some factory pics to give you an idea of how the ballast tank is installed.

 

[Charlie13958]

Thanks George, knew I had seen pictures before, but forgot where.

 

[owner23.5]

well charlie let me know what you find out with hunter , and thanks for the pics, Ive been wondering all weekend about what to do and what I could check here. there must be more to this story and still wondering where they drilled the exploratory holes and how they determined it was a total loss.

 

[George H260]

Have you read the notes about leaks on my website?

Go here: http://h260.com/leaks/H260_leaks.html

A leaking ballast tank is a very rare event. The ballast tank for the H23.5/26/260 is created by gluing the cabin floor to the hull with 3M 5200. One theory is that when the boat experiences a hard landing or is run aground this breaks that bond or seal.

One owner confirmed the tank was leaking by pulling the boat, making sure the boat and tank were completely dry, and then refilling the tank with a hose. There are no written repair procedures available; the repair process is different depending on where the tank is leaking.

If you would like to speak with someone on this contact Eddie Breeden at Hunter, 800-771-5556 x 3632. that said, unless you actually have a problem, my suggestion is don't bother Eddie with this issue.

Depending on the extent of the damage, it is possible that the value of the boat would make repair uneconomical. Insurance companies are more inclined to look at this differently than the boat owner.

 

[Charlie13958]

I have talked to Eddie in the past re my 336, he is very knowledgeable. I don't see any point in going any further with this issue. With northern boats, there can be ice damage if water gets in during the winter. You can also get hull cracks from poor support on the trailer bunks.

 

[George H260]

Good point, I forgot the most common reason for ballast tank damage - Freezing. Hunter is very clear on this point.

 

[owner23.5]

as for freezing we get that ALL winter long up here , I pulled my boat in sept and left the fill plate beneath the boat open as well as the vent plug there is no way for water to enter the boat in winter as well its not rain its SNOW... just gonna wait till spring and fill it up add some dye and see what comes out , just didnt know as the poor fellas boat was same year as mine and wondered if they were a 17 yrs shelf life with this model. thanks for the input as the pic shows I dont see where one could NOT see water in the cabin should the tank leak , thanks again

 

[Bobbi Ullinger]

If you went all last summer with no water in the cabin, then why worry about something that's not a problem.

We also have a '93 23.5 , that we bought new. We love the boat, and have had no major problems with it.