Need help. Screw below water line

[sgumedic]

Hi all, I was hoping you would be able to help me. I bought a boat with a finished cabin including tongue-in-groove flooring. The problem is that I noticed under the waterline that there appears to be the point of a stainless steel screw that is poking out from the inside. The inside of the screw is not accessible at this time, and I would have to rip out a LOT to get to it.

It looks like they put caulk over it and painted bottom paint over top of that to cover it. I took the caulk off to

How can I fix this without killing my sailing season?

Thank you for your thoughts!

[oldragbaggers]

If you can't get to it to get it out you could possibly Dremel the tip of the screw back into the hull a little ways so that you can get some epoxy in the hole to seal it up.

[denverd0n]

The problem with doing anything at all with it is that you don't know what it is holding, or how securely it is holding it.

Frankly, for now, I would probably epoxy over it and otherwise just leave it alone. Then, at the first possible convenience, rip out whatever you need to inside in order to find out what is going on here, and fix it properly.

Good luck.

[Terra Nova]

Unless it is leaking, leave it alone!

[sgumedic]

I can't tell if it's leaking because it's been on the hard since I've noticed it. I would be surprised if there was any significant water intrusion based on the way it looks. I'm going to end up redoing the interior at some point but that's a long term project. For now, it looks like epoxying over is going to be the winner for the short term.

Thank you all for your thoughts!

[sailorboy1]

is the hull cored as that in my mind would make a big difference on what if anything needs to be done?

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

is the hull cored as that in my mind would make a big difference on what if anything needs to be done?

Roger that! If a cored hull fix NOW.
If you are on the hard, and it's not a cored hull... I would do as mentioned, carefully dremel around the screw tip, break or grind it off and repair with epoxy.
If in the water and not a cored hull, don't worry til next haulout.