Side Exhaust Problem

[dougl33]

FYI: A few weeks ago I went down to Maryland to do a survey/sea-trial on a 1988 FBC my friend eventually bought. During the high speed portion of the sea-trial, we noticed a lot of exhaust smoke in the cockpit and flybridge areas. Additonally, the bilge pump was coming on more than it should have. The surveyor wound up looking at the side exiting exhaust cowlings (the things that look like mail slots aft, just below the rails). The cowlings were attached to wooden blocks and the blocks were epoxied to the inside of the hull. Upon inspection, both blocks of wood had pulled away from the sides of the hull and the cowlings were dumping both exhaust and water back into the hull. Even though I never experienced this issue on my boat, I knew it was going to be the first thing I'd look at this spring on my 1986 33 FBC. When I got home and checked the port one was fine, but sure enough, the starbord one had broken loose from the inside of the hull. It was still inside the mail slot, but it was definately broken. Since both the SF and FBC have this setup, I would caution everyone to check theirs as soon as possible. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth