Water coming in from stern tube?? Help!

[Dufour4800-175]

Hello! So ive investigated my problem further, and i discovered that the tube was made entirely from fiberglass, so no rust there. The rusty color must come from somwhere else.... Ill have to investigate further. Now.... Would you simply redo some glassfibre to seal the crack or would you use 5200? I would tend to reseal with epoxy/glass. Thanks!

On the pictures you can see the crack all around the tube!

 

[Captn TJ]

Hello! So ive investigated my problem further, and i discovered that the tube was made entirely from fiberglass, so no rust there. The rusty color must come from somwhere else.... Ill have to investigate further. Now.... Would you simply redo some glassfibre to seal the crack or would you use 5200? I would tend to reseal with epoxy/glass. Thanks! On the pictures you can see the crack all around the tube!

Just redid mine for the second time. The first was with 5200 fast cure. It didn't hold up primarily due to the sagging of the 5200. I redid with thickened epoxy (multiple coats) . End result was spectacular.

 

[klemsaba]

5200 didn't last long for my stern tube either. Epoxy is the way to go.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Regardless of what you end up using, it would seem to me that BEFORE you do ANYTHING, IT WOULD BE IMPERATIVE TO know EXACTLY HOW IT IS BUILT before you patch anything. A patch on something that is unknown is probably not the best approach.

Good luck.

 

[Dufour4800-175]

Thanks for all your precious advices! Ill keep you posted !!

 

[Captn TJ]

Dugout 4800-175

Your Fiberglas prop shaft tube looks similar if not identical to the skeg and prop shaft tube on Beneteau's and mine in particular a 423. The fiberglas tube (mine) sits in an epoxy bedding material and exits through the skeg. Our particular model had some boats with poor application of the epoxy bedding compound which can result in leaks. Other boats and mine in particular had a proper bedding application and no leaks - but the secondary seal on the outside where the shaft exits the skeg had sealant issues - 5200 lost adhesion.

My initial repair as stated previously was 5200 which lasted one season. The thickened epoxy far more successful.

 

[Chris Patterson]

5200. YAHHHHH. The junk just doesn't hold up. It dries too brittle, and any vibration much will crack it, and leak. I can't count the underwater "repairs" I've run across that failed. Miserably. This stuff seems like boaters crack or something. I personally cannot think of anything it is good for.

(Epoxy and glass the tube in, and forget it for years. Or throw 20 dollars worth of useless caulk at it and do it again later if the boat does not sink first)..