# Moisture Meter Recomendations



## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

One of my ongoing projects is to gradually remove all my deck hardware and re-bed everything since the boat turned 20 this year.

I'm doing it as preventative maintenance, one piece at a time on days when I feel like puttering around the boat.

While I'm at it I want to check for any moisture in the deck but the moisture meter I use for wood working is a pin type meter. 

Can anyone recommend a pinless meter under $100?

Most of what I'm finding are only calibrated for common building materials (wood/drywall/masonry) with no setting for fiberglass.

Thanks
Jim


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## Waterrat (Sep 8, 2007)

Do you want accurate with that hundred bucks? This link is great info on how meters work. Understanding the Moisture Meter / Electrophysics CT-33 Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

While on compass marine and since you are re-bedding hardware check out Re-Bedding Deck Hardware With Bed-It Butyl Tape Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

cheers
Justin


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

The CT-33 (by and large one of the most common capacitance type meters) costs more than $100... If I recall correctly, I paid about $300, but have since seen them for about $200. Check eBay for used.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

I just looked up the current price here: Electrophysics Moisture Meters
Assuming that NJ is still part of the USA: $199.00


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

Waterrat said:


> Do you want accurate with that hundred bucks?
> 
> While on compass marine and since you are re-bedding hardware check out Re-Bedding Deck Hardware With Bed-It Butyl Tape
> 
> ...


Justin, 
If I'm milling wood for furniture I'm concerned with accuracy. In this case I'm just looking for an indication of the presence of moisture. Accuracy of +/- 5% is overkill for my purpose. I should be able to find what I need under a hundred bucks.

I'm familiar with MaineSail's site. I'm using Butyl tape for rebedding the deck hardware. There's a ton of good stuff on there.

Jim


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

:grin


eherlihy said:


> Assuming that NJ is still part of the USA


Well that depends. If Gov Fat Bastard doesn't get the nomination I'm expecting he'll declare war on Donald Trump and attempt to secede.

Hell he's already closed the border once !

:grin


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

The CT 33 on Ebay is going for about $150, but there are far less expensive moisture meters available at places like Home Depot.

Good luck,

Gary


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## CapnRed (May 15, 2015)

I've been looking at moisture meters as well. I understand that cheaper meters don't measure moisture the same way and don't work well through fiberglass and gelcoat. I've looked at the CT33.

My situation is a little different though. I have a bunch of blisters that I have ground out, so I have open access further into the laminate without a gelcoat in the way. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on using cheaper meters (possibly a stick in probe type) in open blisters and laminate? I wouldn't mind drilling holes some either as I am already doing a full bottom job.


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

I bought one of these a couple of years ago.

Ryobi Pinless Moisture Meter-E49MM01 - The Home Depot

Seems to work well for what I wanted - relative readings to monitor deck condition. A friend borrowed it this spring as he has his J30 for sale and wanted to check the hull and deck. The Ryobi readings agreed pretty well with the meter a surveyor used.

Edit: The hardwood setting seems to agree best with the more expensive meters. Note you are not measuring moisture directly and you are interested in the core condition, not the fiberglass.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Unfortunately, the Ryobi is currently out of stock with all the major suppliers. 

Gary


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## boatpoker (Jul 21, 2008)

Moisture Meter Mythology and Flir thermal imager
Another point of view.


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## CapnRed (May 15, 2015)

boatpoker said:


> Moisture Meter Mythology and Flir thermal imager
> Another point of view.


Great info Boatpoker. I might be better off taping some plastic sheets over my ground out blisters and seeing if any moisture droplets come out in the heat rather than messing with a meter.


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

travlineasy said:


> Unfortunately, the Ryobi is currently out of stock with all the major suppliers.
> 
> Gary


Home Depot website is reporting it as discontinued. Too bad. Decent piece of equipment at a great price. Mine was a refurb from Amazon so they may reappear there in the future.


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## CapnRed (May 15, 2015)

JimsCAL said:


> Home Depot website is reporting it as discontinued. Too bad. Decent piece of equipment at a great price. Mine was a refurb from Amazon so they may reappear there in the future.


I actually called Ryobi customer service and was told it was discontinued. They didn't have it in any of their warehouses or in production.

That's disappointing since I've read several reviews of this meter being used on boat hulls along with a more expensive meter and having similar results.


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

Amazon has refurbished Ryobi moisture meters back in stock if anyone is still interested. 
Factory-Reconditioned Ryobi ZRE49MM01 Pinless Moisture Meter - - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/[email protected]@[email protected]@41QNvBTkufL


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## Bruce3966 (Feb 8, 2015)

JimsCAL said:


> Amazon has refurbished Ryobi moisture meters back in stock if anyone is still interested.
> Factory-Reconditioned Ryobi ZRE49MM01 Pinless Moisture Meter - - Amazon.com


Seriously, I added to my cart and it shows $40 dollars for the total. Can this be correct? If it is it's a no brainer.


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## CheckedOutRob (Nov 3, 2012)

I bought a CT-33 and it was invaluable when I was inspecting boats before purchasing my Norseman. 

I do need to sell it now though. Of note is the poor guy who hauled his 60 foot power cruiser in the yard where I'm at. He had a ding in his keel to fix and they cut out some of the surrounding small damage area. 
The thing drained water for days. The yard then tried to patch it but hydraulic pressure would pop off any patch they tried.

I mentioned I had the CT33 moisture meter and offered to check his gigantic hull. The meter was off the scale on his entire hull to the waterline where is was normal. It was a cored hull. I broke to news to him -delicately but it became obvious that he had a massive problem with a completely soaked foam cored hull. The guy was not happy. I can only imagine the $$$ and time to fix that. He knew he had a soaked hull and his only immediate option was to patch up the hole and motor it off somewhere to think about what next -while avoiding any rough seas.

I guess that's what moisture meters are for..... Destroying peoples dreams.


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

Bruce3966 said:


> Seriously, I added to my cart and it shows $40 dollars for the total. Can this be correct? If it is it's a no brainer.


Yep. That's what I paid for mine a couple of years ago. At the time news ones at Home Depot were $60. My refurb has worked fine with no problems.


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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

CheckedOutRob said:


> I mentioned I had the CT33 moisture meter and offered to check his gigantic hull. The meter was off the scale on his entire hull to the waterline where is was normal.


The CT-33 will read wet on a dry boat if you use it over some types of paint. Notably any paint with copper in it.

If it sees metal of any kind it calls it wet.

Are you sure your reading was not in error because of the bottom paint.

it it read consistently off the scale anywhere there was bottom paint that would make more sense than the whole hull being equally saturated.


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## CheckedOutRob (Nov 3, 2012)

For sure. It was a badly soaked hull. In fact to prove it to the guy we went around the entire yard of boats (apx. 20) many with the same bottom paint. Found a few with wet areas.

I thought it wise to apologize to the yard boss (on the down low) to keep my ass out of hot water since I live here. The yard managers knew the boat was hosed but just elected not to tell him the news so as to be not involved in an ugly job they did not want to work on.

I of course understand how to use the CT-33. Any metals or water/fuel tanks/energized wires behind the laminate show up as "wet".


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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

Wow. The only time a found a boat that wet was one that was sunk for a couple of weeks.

The whole deck was off the scale.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

My refurbed meter should arrive today.

Gary


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## TakeFive (Oct 22, 2009)

Several years back I borrowed someone's CT-33 meter and tested it side-by-side with the Ryobi pinless meter (from Home Depot) and a $10 stud finder that I had lying around (works on the same principle of detecting capacitance).

The Ryobi and CT-33 gave quantitative and repeatable results, but they did not agree with each other. The reason appeared to be that the CT-33 is tuned to look deeper into the core. The CT-33 would be required for any surveyor, since the customer's expectation is for quantitative readings on a universally-standardized scale. But either of them would have been fine for qualitative determination of wet spots, where you pretty much want to see whether there are moisture gradients leading up to stanchions and other deck penetrations that are a source of moisture.

For such qualitative measurements, I found that my $10 stud finder worked just fine. It does not give numeric readings, but it has 5 LEDs that indicate detected capacitance, and is precise enough to detect gradients in moisture. Just zero the stud finder at a dry spot away from any penetrations, and gradually move toward the penetrations to see if there's a gradient. If you already have stud finder, I'd suggest trying that before forking out money for a non-standard meter like the Ryobi.


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

JimsCAL said:


> Amazon has refurbished Ryobi moisture meters back in stock if anyone is still interested.
> Factory-Reconditioned Ryobi ZRE49MM01 Pinless Moisture Meter - - Amazon.com


Currently unavailable.

That's what I get for not checking the thread for a couple of days


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Got mine, works really well and at $40 it was a no brainer!

Gary


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

travlineasy said:


> Got mine, works really well and at $40 it was a no brainer!
> 
> Gary


Glad you are happy with it. And yes, at $40 it's a no brainer.

As to TakeFive's comments about agreement with the CT-33, note that the readings depend a lot on what mode you have it in. One review on Amazon also compared the Ryobi readings with a surveyor's meter and found the best agreement was when in the "hardwood" mode. Of course any readings are relative so its basically a tool to help you locate areas that "might" be moist or wet. The limitations of any moisture meter are well described by posters like Boatpoker and Maine Sail.


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## windnrock (May 27, 2012)

Infrared camera. Rent at Home Depot for $75 a day. Take pictures early night and late morning and compare. You can save pictures to your computer/tablet and have a map of not only water intrusion but relative thickness at bulkheads and tabbing as well as hull and deck. Works like a charm and you will have a map of your entire boat. I put pics into a PowerPoint and made notes, used arrows and circles to pinpoint and comments on repairs. When completed I did a second rental to see the difference. This is now a common survey tool.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

How about sharing some of those photos - I for one, would love to see them.

Gary


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## windnrock (May 27, 2012)

Will try asap Gary as soon as I get some bandwidth. This t-mobile hot spot isn't working great here.


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

windnrock said:


> Infrared camera. Rent at Home Depot for $75 a day. Take pictures early night and late morning and compare. You can save pictures to your computer/tablet and have a map of not only water intrusion but relative thickness at bulkheads and tabbing as well as hull and deck. Works like a charm and you will have a map of your entire boat. I put pics into a PowerPoint and made notes, used arrows and circles to pinpoint and comments on repairs. When completed I did a second rental to see the difference. This is now a common survey tool.


I'd like to see them to. It sounds like a great idea.


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