[Rhodes22-list] Probable leak in Bow Railing

[Rory Orkin]

Thanks for the advice.. All of it good.. I have been also fighting a large
Laz leak for a year to no avail.. I cant find it with the hose and it does
not seem to be in any of the drains.. I have come to much the same
conclusion that it is some type of overwhelming of the hatch rim.. I have
half heartedlly toyed with the idea of putting a small automatic bilge pump
at the bottom of the Laz. figured I could rig up something to discharge at
the opening where the fuel and electrical  exit the boat.. Properly fused,
the pump can get its power right there in the laz.

Woten wrote:
> 
> 
> Rory,
>  
> You refer to a small amount of water in the bilge, perhaps just  
> condensation.  If it’s not much water, one thing you might try  in dealing
> with the 
> leakage is to get some of this chamois type of  cloth called Absorber
> (West Marine 
> sells it and you can get it at auto parts  stores) and lay it in the bilge
> to 
> soak up any small amount of water that might  get there.  The cloth soaks
> it up 
> the water, when there is any, and then it  evaporates- or at least it’s
> held 
> in the cloth.  If you find a wet cloth  you can just wring it out over the 
> side.  This won’t work if there’s a real  pool of water in your bilge of
> any 
> significant depth.
>  
> We leave folded Absorber in the bilge, and the bilge uncovered, every time  
> we secure our boat.  Leaving the bilge uncovered makes checking the  bilge 
> automatic when we come back next time.  Having Absorber in  the bilge
> helps 
> mitigate the effects of any leakage into the bilge.  Also,  leaving the
> bilge 
> uncovered should promote air circulation in the bilge -  and hence
> evaporation of 
> any water in the Absorber cloth.  Finally, the  cloth makes a good witness 
> cloth.  If the cloth is damp or wet you  know you’ve had some water in the
> bilge, 
> even if it looks dry.  If the  cloth is rock hard, you know things have
> been OK.
>  
> We’ve had a leak in our lazz and I think a little of that water has found  
> its way to the bilge, that’s why I came up with the above for the bilge -
> and  
> I've also tried it in the lazz, with less success because often there's
> much  
> more water.  We sometimes get a significant amount of water (perhaps  1 to
> 2 
> gallons) in our lazz.
>  
> As to the leak in your bilge, is your lazz dry?  John Locks problem  was
> back 
> in his lazz and he had some leakage to his bilge.  I think our  problem is
> in 
> the lazz also (but I don’t think it’s John’s problem, we’ll see)  and that 
> its draining to the bilge.  
>  
> Regarding tracking down a possible leak in your bow  railing.  After 
> unwrapping your boat and checking for condensate,  you  might just leave
> it out of the 
> water for a while;  let it get  rained on or hosed down several times, if 
> there's no leaking when it's  out of the water and uncovered, your leak is
> below 
> the water line, if the leak  continues the leak is probably from the top.  
> Subsequently you might  cover the bow railing area of your boat that you
> suspect, 
> leave the  covering on for a few rain storms and/or hose it down and  see
> if 
> the  leak persists - it's easy to do if the boat's out of the water.   If
> the 
> leak totally stops with the covering on, and it was leaking  before you
> put 
> the covering on the bow railing, you've begun to isolate the  leak.  You
> might 
> be able to use this approach to track down exactly  where the water is
> getting 
> in.
>  
> We've pursued this strategy successfully over the winter.  We  often had 
> water in the lazz last season, sometimes a fair amount, and  suspected a
> leaky 
> drain connection (among other candidates), but when I took the  boat out I 
> initially left the boat uncovered on jack stands and the  leak continued
> so clearly 
> the leak was from above, not below, the water  line -  forget the lower
> drain 
> connection.  Then I covered the aft  section of the boat with a tarp and
> found 
> the leak completely stopped (so far, I  haven't been out to the boat in a 
> couple of weeks) so I think the leak is  somewhere in the aft section of
> the 
> boat; and I don't think it's the drains at  all since the drains had to
> drain 
> water from the 1/2 of the cockpit that  wasn't covered over the winter.  I
> don't 
> yet know exactly where the leak  is, but the evidence suggests it's
> somewhere 
> between the point of the tiller and  the transom (the area that was
> covered).  
> Also, it can be a lot of water,  which makes me think the leak is at a
> point 
> where a lot of runoff  aggregates - like maybe the lazz hatch and gutter
> behind 
> the lazz  hatch - and that's a real start.  My next step is to climb in
> the  
> lazz and have the admiral hose it down - I'm not looking forward to that.  
>  
> Whatever, it's a strategy, and it's worked so far, but one reason it  may
> be 
> working for us is that there is/was so much water leaking in.  If  you're
> just 
> concerned about a very small amount of what could be condensate, it  might 
> not work.
>  
> Dave
> 
> 
> 
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