Paul, what you describe is VERY similar to what was found on our hull #89. The fiberglass exhaust tube was tabbed and glassed on the inside, but only caulked on the outside. We found the problem looking for a source for new blisters on the starboard hull which appeared suddenly during spring bottom work 2 years ago. The blisters fanned out in a pattern from the exhaust. We cut the exhaust out and found the "gray paste" about 1" around the tailpipe. We drilled test holes and found moisture migration about halfway up the transom on the starboard side. As you said, nothing on the port side. Rather that cut out the transome and the hull, we drilled 3/8" dia. holes in a 2.5" grid on the transom and on the hull all the way to about 14" short of the ice box. The hull and transom were allowed to dry for 6 months in inside heated storage, tested for moisture with a moisture meter (1% to 4%) and the holes filled with resin. The cavity around the tailpipe was filled with glass filled resin and the pipe was sealed back into place with resin. No problems since.
This same condition was found on HALLEL, hull #88 and repaired. We got a lot of guidance from HALLEL's owner, Bill Anderson, for our repair. The owner of hull #83 (Sugar & Spice) that BrianT has did not discover the moisture incursion soon enough, and the freezing and thawing of a cold MI winter resulted in a split hull from the transom (near the exhaust) about 6 to 8 feet long. The transom also expanded and cracked all the gellcoat over a large area.
It may be possible that TPI discovered this defect and changed production techniques for later hull numbers so that the tailpipe hole was drilled through an area of solid glass. This is only speculation on my part and would explain why some owners report solid glass in this area, but if your hull # is earlier than #89 you should check out the transom around the tail pipe!
BobbyCox, Ricochet
