[Rhodes22-list] Center Board Well Leak

Ben Schultz benonvelvetelvis at theskinnyonbenny.com
Mon Jul 13 16:25:35 EDT 2009


Nice detective work, and congratulations on finding the leak.  May your
bilge be bone-dry for the remainder of the summer!

Ben

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of
david.walker5 at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 14:43
To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Center Board Well Leak

Greetings to the list. 

I haven't been active on the list for a few years but have been actively
sailing my boat, Windswept, out of Salem harbor in MA. I re-signed up to
share with you all something I found this spring that I think should be
brought to all owners attention. 

For the 11 years I have owned my R22 (bought from Stan in 1998 as recycled)
I have been fighting a slow leak. Many helpful suggestions pointed at
rainwater leaks, which I did have and were mostly fixed. However there was a
consistent salt water leak that I could not find. I pretty easily ruled out
the thru hulls and was left with the centerboard well. Two years ago I
removed the cap and cleaned the mating surfaces, replaced the fender washers
and removed a small block that was through bolted to the top of the cap
(part of the 4:1 board raising tackle). This didn't make any change. 

Last summer returning to the boat (at her mooring) after a weeks absence I
found water about a foot above the sole. The battery was under water and
completely shorted out. Its unclear whether the bilge pump failed or the
increasing leak rate caused the pump to discharge the battery. Anyway, I
limped to the local marina where I winter store, pumped out the bilge with a
home sump pump, had an emergency haul and had it blocked for the winter. (I
was pretty discouraged and was about to leave on a 3 week trip). 

This spring I resolved to find the leak once and for all. When I opened the
boat I found a little rain water in the bilge but nothing was leaking out. I
filled the bilge to above the cap and a steady trickle started to run out of
the aft end of the CB slot. I lowered the water with a pump to just below
the cap seal and the trickle continued. I lowered the water level to about
halfway from the cap to the bilge and the trickle stopped. Very strange.
This eliminated the cap seal and the pennant thru hull as a leak. 

I removed the cap (fun job) and carefully inspected the inside of the well.
At the aft end I found a piece of UHMWP in the shape of an upside down V
wedged from side to side at the top of the well. My guess is its job is as a
seat for the top of the CB when it is up to keep it from moving side to
side. The critical thing is that this piece was screwed in place with long
screws from the top of the piece, diagonally down through the side of the
well from inside to outside. The tips of the screws were actually though the
outside of the well about halfway up from the blige to the cap. After years
of the board banging into this, the screws had loosened in the fiber glass
and I could literally just pull them out with my hand. These screws were
loose in their holes had provided literally two holes in the bottom of the
boat. I took them out, dried out the area, ground it down and patched with
epoxy and two layers of glass inside and out. 

My point in this post is that this may or may not have been done at the
factory and I'm not blaming anyone, but it was present in my hull. If anyone
has a slow leak in this area, it would be worthwile to check it out, and if
you pull your cap for any reason definetely check it. Now I just have to
finish all those pesky port light rain leaks!! 


Dave Walker 

__________________________________________________
To subscribe/unsubscribe or for help with using the mailing list go to
http://www.rhodes22.org/list
__________________________________________________



More information about the Rhodes22-list mailing list