# Marine Tex usage



## Vertigo (Jun 3, 2012)

If you have holes on the bottom that light shines through, Marine Tex isn't going to fix them. You don't say what kind of boat, but in most cases, properly fixing holes in the bottom is going to require some serious fiberglass work or welding.


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## No Bait / Lures Only (Apr 10, 2011)

blackmagic1 said:


> Trying to figure out where I've got some water working its way in so I turned a q beam on in the hatch at night and got underneath. Found a couple of spots where Oysters have made their mark and I saw daylight. Has anybody used Marine Tex putty to fix something like this?


Good Temporary fix until proper repair can be completed. Lower unit nose cones are faired in with it, also torque tabs are sometimes constructed with it. I like the product for repairing pinholes, voids in gelcoat. Tougher than gelcoat.....


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## blackmagic1 (Jul 3, 2014)

Vertigo said:


> If you have holes on the bottom that light shines through, Marine Tex isn't going to fix them. You don't say what kind of boat, but in most cases, properly fixing holes in the bottom is going to require some serious fiberglass work or welding.


boat is a 17 Pathfinder. ill try to slide under and get a pic


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## Vertigo (Jun 3, 2012)

I owned a 17 Pathfinder. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you've got holes in the bottom, chances are there are other structural problems. Problems that Marine Tex will never fix.


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## blackmagic1 (Jul 3, 2014)

Vertigo said:


> I owned a 17 Pathfinder. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you've got holes in the bottom, chances are there are other structural problems. Problems that Marine Tex will never fix.


guess im just lucky. 13 years with it and nothing major structurally.


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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

blackmagic1 said:


> guess im just lucky. 13 years with it and nothing major structurally.


What is this a photo of, the bottom?


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## blackmagic1 (Jul 3, 2014)

yobata said:


> What is this a photo of, the bottom?


yes. port side im laying on my back hats the tunnel on the left


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## grovesnatcher (Sep 25, 2007)

blackmagic1 said:


> yes. port side im laying on my back hats the tunnel on the left


A lot of those hulls had bad stringers, you should get it fixed right.


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## blackmagic1 (Jul 3, 2014)

I'm well aware of that, however, I don't find this indicative of stringer damage nor have I had any other signs of it. I may be wrong. I'm not even completely sure there's water coming through this cut. Thanks for the input, I'll keep it in mind as I do more inspecting.


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## Vertigo (Jun 3, 2012)

Grind out the crack a little, feather in a few layers of glass, sand it down fair and see what happens. If it's cosmetic, you'll be good to go. If not, you'll know soon enough.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Before any cosmetic or minor repair - you'd be wise to find out just how bad your problem is with a water test... A water test has nothing to do with putting your boat in the water so let's begin... You really need to know where your water is coming in and if so is it a structural problem or something that's an easy fix (easy fixes are desired but rarely what's needed with boat hulls -particularly the bottom area....). 

To find out quickly simply plug your drain hole and begin filling the boat while it's level on the trailer with a hose, at medium slow speed so you can monitor the bottom to see where any drips, seeps, weeps, or dangerous cracks might actually be present. As you go you'll quickly learn the phrase "that doesn't hold water" if your hull is bad (or has a bad spot...). At each spot with water, mark with a magic marker so you can re-locate it later. Be careful not to fill your hull too far - just up to the floor level since the added weight of water to your hull will stress your trailer... Good luck and post up what you find. Most that own aluminum hulls that are getting older probably already know about a "water test" since that's the quickest way to find loose rivets, hull cracks, etc. Just another in those never ending "ask me how I know" routines...


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## zthomas (Jan 14, 2014)

LeMay's water test is a very good idea. I did it with my 17T and found leaks around where my trim tab plans mount to the hull. Pulled them off and found poorly sealed extra holes behind them. Drilled out, cleaned up, filled with Marine Tex, reinforced other holes with Marine Tex, resealed everything with 4200, and reinstalled.

I also found some leakage around the screws holding the black keel piece under the bow. I'm not certain, but I think the later models may have had that keel molded in, rather than screwed on, so maybe that's a non-issue for you. I pulled the piece off, reinforced all holes with Marine Tex, bought all new fasteners, packed everything with 4200, and reinstalled.

That helped, but I've still got water intrusion. I think a good bit of it is from the rubrail. I find that that boat really drives water up against the bottom of the rubrail, and mine isn't very well sealed. That's on the list.

Another guy I know doing a restoration told me he was getting a lot of water around poorly sealed lower motor mount bolts.

Not saying it isn't coming through the bottom -- just that there are many other possibilities.

Yes, I've personally used Marine Tex on previous boats to fill gouges like you've got. It looked like crap, but seemed to do the job. I'm sure there are many better ways; I was just going for a quick, simple fix. If you do, get it as fair as you can before it hardens. It's very hard and a PIA to sand down.


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