..so with Pap ashore I could now devote some time to finding the cause of that leak...
..first things first though and a visual check of the whole hull, the good news is that she doesn't appear to be holed.. no holes/cracks or abrasions to be seen .. (I can't be certain until she's back in the water though...)
Next I then checked the rudder stock as I remember one of the other guys in the owners group telling us that he's had problems with his being cracked, and the stern locker filling... on Pap the stern locker has a couple of drain holes coming through to the main bilge/cabin so the water could have come from there.. I jacked up the front of the boat, emptied the stern locker of accumulated crap (how many 'useful' pieces of rope can you keep??!), threw in four buckets of water and retired underneath the boat to look for drips.. and nothing....tick...
...while I'd been on holiday I had a bit of a eureka moment and decided to test my theory - I'd noticed when I was pressure washing her after the recovery, that there had been a tide line on the port side deck which started me thinking about the sink outlet skin fitting... I taped over the exit on the outside of the hull, filled the sink with water, and then shone the torch underneath, and saw this..
..bit clearer in this one...
...yup water... looks like I found my cuplrit.... seemed to be leaking from the join between the two fittings rather than the actual hose... got the jubilee off, went to pull off the pipe, and the entire inner fitting just snapped off... plastic fatigue...
Next, just to be sure I then dropped the nose down and let the water from the stern locker drain into the main boat, and added three or four more buckets full - still no leaks..... tick...
Last of all I then checked the skin fittings for the toilet (two of them); these are gated valves, but I've never used them in all the time I've had the boat - if I had my choice I'd get the valves removed and glassed over, take out the old toilet, and fit a chemical loo.. either way they look good - firmly seated, hoses look fine...
...so - new fitting required for the sink, or fill it. Now I can never see the point in making holes in a boat - there's no need unless you have an inboard engine, and I see even less need for something as flippant as a sink drain, so I'm going to fill it - spoke with a friend who runs a local chandlery and he says it's a cheap fix, and is exactly what he'd do - I'll make arrangements soonest, and depending on how cheap it is I may even do the toilet entries as well.... could do it myself, but for piece of mind I'll get the professionals in...
...next I turned to the mast - less problems than I thought - mast is fine - I'll drill the old one's out...
Mast foot not so good - this is original (so 40 years of abuse and aluminium corrosion) - as I see it I have two choices - replace it (Z Spars might be worth trying), or find an Aluminium fabricator and get it repaired.... going to have a go at the latter first....
Onwards and upwards...
..first things first though and a visual check of the whole hull, the good news is that she doesn't appear to be holed.. no holes/cracks or abrasions to be seen .. (I can't be certain until she's back in the water though...)
Next I then checked the rudder stock as I remember one of the other guys in the owners group telling us that he's had problems with his being cracked, and the stern locker filling... on Pap the stern locker has a couple of drain holes coming through to the main bilge/cabin so the water could have come from there.. I jacked up the front of the boat, emptied the stern locker of accumulated crap (how many 'useful' pieces of rope can you keep??!), threw in four buckets of water and retired underneath the boat to look for drips.. and nothing....tick...
...while I'd been on holiday I had a bit of a eureka moment and decided to test my theory - I'd noticed when I was pressure washing her after the recovery, that there had been a tide line on the port side deck which started me thinking about the sink outlet skin fitting... I taped over the exit on the outside of the hull, filled the sink with water, and then shone the torch underneath, and saw this..
..bit clearer in this one...
...yup water... looks like I found my cuplrit.... seemed to be leaking from the join between the two fittings rather than the actual hose... got the jubilee off, went to pull off the pipe, and the entire inner fitting just snapped off... plastic fatigue...
Next, just to be sure I then dropped the nose down and let the water from the stern locker drain into the main boat, and added three or four more buckets full - still no leaks..... tick...
Last of all I then checked the skin fittings for the toilet (two of them); these are gated valves, but I've never used them in all the time I've had the boat - if I had my choice I'd get the valves removed and glassed over, take out the old toilet, and fit a chemical loo.. either way they look good - firmly seated, hoses look fine...
...so - new fitting required for the sink, or fill it. Now I can never see the point in making holes in a boat - there's no need unless you have an inboard engine, and I see even less need for something as flippant as a sink drain, so I'm going to fill it - spoke with a friend who runs a local chandlery and he says it's a cheap fix, and is exactly what he'd do - I'll make arrangements soonest, and depending on how cheap it is I may even do the toilet entries as well.... could do it myself, but for piece of mind I'll get the professionals in...
...next I turned to the mast - less problems than I thought - mast is fine - I'll drill the old one's out...
Mast foot not so good - this is original (so 40 years of abuse and aluminium corrosion) - as I see it I have two choices - replace it (Z Spars might be worth trying), or find an Aluminium fabricator and get it repaired.... going to have a go at the latter first....
Onwards and upwards...
Hi Steve, The mast foot on JB was a bit like this.. I cut off and levelled what was left of the lip and cut a 10mm ali plate to shape. This was then bolted to the foot, the foot was drilled and tapped, and then when I was happy with the fit into the mast I drilled and tapped the plate so I could bolt it on through the three rivet holes using M6 machine screws.
ReplyDeleteFilling hull through holes really isn't that difficult - buy some good epoxy and read up on how to do it
ReplyDeletehttp://www.westsystem.com/ss/repairing-machined-holes-in-fiberglass/
very cheap and sound modification!!
Phil - very clever.. one of the chaps on the PBO forum said he did the same, and also for his boom fittings as it meant he could get access much easier that way - all he had to do was unscrew the bolts rather than drill the rivets out... I'll bear it in mind but I *think* I may have found someone who can repair it...
ReplyDeleteBB - you're right - it is a fairly easy fix in theory.. and I could do it I guess, but for piece of mind I'd rather have a professional do it... though I will try to make myself available so I can watch him do it....
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