[Public-List] Help water leak!

[Gordon Laco]

Hi Ted - 

If the water is coming in via the cutlas bearing, you will be able to see
that by looking over the engine at the place where the shaft exits the hull.

If you can't find water coming in anywhere else (check all through hulls,
engine cooling system, rudder shaft) that means the water is likely coming
in up past the ballast due to damage to the encapsulation of the keel. You
can do a very good temporary repair by using the old sawdust trick.  I used
to do it regularly with my wooden boat, and once with SURPRISE after I'd not
properly repaired what I thought was slight damaged the forward part of her
keel.

Take a bucket with a lanyard on its handle.  Put 'a lot' of fine and not so
fine sawdust in the bucket (maybe several handfuls or more).  Mix in a bit
of water and stir till you have a paste.  Then put a pole in the bucket
while holding onto the lanyard and push the bucket gently but smartly under
the boat to where you think the leak is.  Push and pull on the pole and
lanyard smartly with short strokes until you have a cloud of water saturated
sawdust in the water around the suspected leak.

After one or two such applications, the water leaking into the boat will
suck bits of sawdust in. the sawdust will lodge in the leak and seal it.  As
time goes on and the sawdust continues to swell, the leak will disappear.

Honest, this really works.

Gord #426 SURPRISE 


On 02/07/11 1:24 PM, "Ted Liszczak" <tedliszczak at metrocast.net> wrote:

> All,
> I have owned A-345 for thirty years. When the boat was launched this
> year, water accumulates in the bilge. So much that every three days it
> comes up to the battery boxes. Prior to me owning the boat the boat
> broke its mooring and the keel struck rocks and needed fiberglass repair
> (1 square foot).  I have read the A-30 threads of water coming in from
> the keel. The boat yard has looked at all through hull fittings, the
> stuffing box and they wonder if water is getting in the cutlass bearing?
> Has anyone had that much seepage from the cutlass bearing? I don't want
> to replace everything, without a guarantee to fix the leak.
> Sincerely,
> Ted
> A-345 Freedom
> 
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