Water leak at exhaust

[Irish Mist]

I know this was posted before but I want to mention it again.
On my 2011 R29 that is mostly in fresh water I had to rebed my engine exhaust as it was leaking. Two of the 4 screws had the heads totally rotted off and the water was coming in steady.. As long as the bilge pump is working the boat would not sink... But if you are finding your bilge pump running a lot , check out your exhaust. You can see it easy by lifting up the starboard locker.. Worth checking . There was enough slack in the exhaust pipe I could clean around the fitting without removing more then the 4 screws... It was not easy cleaning but saved unhooking the pipe which is glued and clamped.
Took me about two hours .. Boat going back in today
Mark

 

[knotflying]

I have seen this before so it is not an isolated situation. The one I worked on had all 4 bolts rotted through. The only thing preventing a major catastrophe was the bedding caulk. I can't recall now if this area was connected to the bonding system, but if it isn't i would connect it. It definitely can't hurt.

 

[Irish Mist]

I was thinking the same.. The bedding caulk on mine was not stuck to the Stainless exhaust at all . I sanded and cleaned everything should be good now. I think this will be a wear item that should be checked yearly ..

 

[nzfisher]

Did you get any photos? I would like to see what you are talking about if possible. For now, since the boat is out, another thing to check out. I replaced the flap screws which were badly deteriorated so that is probably a sign there are more issues.

 

[Irish Mist]

Sorry no pictures but bottom 2 screws and exhaust were showing rust and you could see inside where there was a rust trail from the leaking . I tried slowing it down while in the wAter with some epoxy.. When I pulled the boat , removing the epoxy pulled the heads off of two screws... Being under water all the time takes a toll.. All better now 🙂 Back in fresh water