[Rhodes22-list] leaks -- Thank You Stan

[Rory Orkin]

I  am still looking for an answer to my original question.. :-) If the bow
rail seems to be the leak source.. What is the recommended bedding/sealant
or should the hole just be filled with marinetex and re drilled.. :-)
                     This forum is one of those places where you ask what
tilme it is and the (welcome) answers tend to tell you how to build a watch. 


Bill Effros wrote:
> 
> Stan,
> 
> Thank you for posting this.
> 
> It would be nice to think that everyone who gets it spends as much time 
> reading it as you spent writing it.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> stan wrote:
>>     I am too busy but feel obligated to repeat the following for those
>> new to the list.
>>
>> When a boat comes off the line and makes it  through our in-the-rain and
>> in-the-water testing, perfectly bone dry,  we keep it.
>>
>> On the other hand, boats can be made close to perfectly dry under all
>> conditions, if you don't mind the effort it may take - particularly on
>> older boats that we did not build or may have materials that have
>> deteriorated with age, like your builder. 
>>
>> The obvious first task is to find out where the water is coming in from.  
>> For many owners, how this works is not that obvious.  Other than actually
>> seeing a wetting out of the dried gasket material around the cb cap or
>> water dripping down from around threads in items like the bow pulpit
>> bolts, or from worn gaskets on opening ports (new boats use all fixed
>> ports) or from hose connections that run from the cockpit seats out
>> through the transom, spotting water coming into the hull on the inside is
>> a misleading clew since its source can be elsewhere.   That is, once
>> water gets past the outer gel coat it can travel anywhere within the
>> laminate before it finally gets to where you see it coming up into the
>> interior of the boat.  So the area you see water coming in, is not
>> necessarily  the leaking area.  Yet untold used boat buyers spend untold
>> useless hours sealing the floor around the cb bunk because this is where
>> they think they see the water coming in.
>>
>> The positive way to test for leaks from under water fittings or actual
>> hull leaks (rare and as opposed to rain leaks) is to see water coming out
>> of the boat, not into it.  This means having the boat out of the water.
>>
>> If you suspect the lazaret area, tilt the bow up and put water into the
>> lazaret to a height that would be above the top edge of the self bailing
>> cockpit thru-the-hull fitting that is in the bottom of the lazaret and
>> see if there are any drops coming from outside the hull in the area of
>> this fitting.  On some boat this is a molded-in hose barb - on others it
>> is a commercial 1-1/2" thru the hull fitting.  In either case this hose
>> barb can be a culprit.  The 5" length of hose can also be the problem as
>> can the sealant that was used.
>>
>> The most common source of leakage in older boat has been the cb cap. 
>> Particularly ones that used sealant instead of the newer neoprene gasket
>> with machine screws with fender washers under the machine screw heads and
>> under the nuts.   If your cb cap was put on with sheet metal screws,
>> these can loosen up and it may be advisable to go to machine screws and
>> fender washers and nuts rather than just re-tighten the screws.   On
>> older boats the cb pulley system was screwed to the cb cap at a below the
>> water level, level and these screws would show signs of wetness.   The cb
>> on new boats has a direct pull system with no below the water level
>> hardware so on newer boats this is not a potential leak problem.  
>>
>> Some older boats had inserts screwed inside the trunk to cut down cb
>> noise at night and these screws could leak.   And on older boats, where
>> the cb pin did not have bearings, the ss pin itself could eventually
>> damage the gel coat interior finish of the cb trunk and lead to water
>> seepage.
>>
>> All this can be best tested with the boat out of water.  The cockpit seat
>> drains must be dry and no water allowed to drip into their channels while
>> doing the test because that water will go out through the cb pennant hole
>> and drip out the bottom of the cb trunk/keel slot and abort the testing.
>>
>> Level the boat and put water in the bilge just to cover the top of the
>> ballast.   See if any water starts to drip out the bottom of the keel
>> slot area.   If nothing. increase the level of the water in the bilge but
>> do not bring that level above the cb trunk lip, i.e. you do not want the
>> level to get to the cb cap seal itself.   If still no drippings from the
>> keel slot then increase the water level depth in the bilge until it is
>> above the gasket level.   If still no dripping increase the water level
>> (on older boats) until it covers the screws on top of the cap that hold
>> the pulleys that control the old style cb), if still no dripping, you did
>> all that work for nothing.     Start bailing and call me in the morning.  
>>
>> A  few other sources: overfilling the water tank has often been the
>> problem.   We once watched a buyer stand there with a garden hose filling
>> his water tank instead of using our suggested measured bucket technique
>> that keeps you from putting more than 10 to 15 gallons in this
>> not-that-good a sealed tank top).  As we watched the boat sinking lower
>> and lower in the water, I finally said enough already and we discovered
>> that the hose from the deck water intake had not been connected to the
>> water tank.  Do you have a sea cock for the head intake water? - the
>> older type did have leakage problems.  The sink drain system has, on one
>> occasion, been found to be using the bilge as sump instead of going
>> overboard thru the hull fitting.  Even ice melting in an ice box was once
>> spotted flowing out the bottom of the ice box door down to the bilge.
>>
>> While the insulated construction of the Rhodes keeps condensation lower
>> than other boats - condensation can still be a minor source.   We suggest
>> a sponge be left in the bilge and that the bilge (which, in a non-leaking
>> boat, should not have more than a fraction of an inch of water - or, in
>> Rummy's case, Rum, be dried every week or 4 with its stored sponge to
>> help keep down any mildew formation. 
>>
>> If nothing works we give good trade-in credits on leaking Rhodes so we
>> can take them out of circulation.
>>
>> ss
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>>
>>   
> 
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