Marine Use At-Sea Boat Repair

After 15 years of vibration the nylon-poly cooling water intake thruhull in my engine compartment broke. The thru-hole is two feet below the waterline on my boat. The "mushroom" head on the outside of the hull broke away from the actual "thru-hull" part. Since this pipe no longer had support, water was seeping in between the thruhull and the hull and into the engine compartment. Short of hauling the boat and replacing the thruhull, I had no easy way to fix the problem. At the time, I didn't have a spare thru-hull and there are no chandleries out here! I tried regular underwater epoxy to cement the thruhull to the inside of the hull, but it couldn't stop the water flow. This was apparently because a) surfaces were wet, b) water pressure was forcing the epoxy away from the joint, and c) hardly anything sticks to dead dinosaurs. I tried MarineTex with the same negative result.

I then remembered the sample of EZ-Poly you had sent. I cleaned the area of residue from previous repair attempts, and mixed the EZ-Poly as directed. I let the mixture set until I thought it was thick enough to resist the water pressure, and then applied it liberally to all surfaces. Some water seeped out, but I kept massaging the EZ-Poly around the thruhull until it set. When it finally kicked, I put on another 'safety' coat. I believe the fact that EZ-Poly cures so quickly was a major factor in its success in this application. This repair lasted more than two years in South Pacific tropical conditions, without leaking, until I could haul the boat and replaced the thruhull.

No other material I had available was able to save my boat.

--Roger and Catherine, American Samoa, South Pacific.

(The Iluvatar is a 38' Cross Trimaran. The vessel is fiberglass-over-wood and has been cruising the South Pacific between Fiji, Tonga and American Samoa since the 80's)