[Public-List] Here's a good one...

[Jonathan Bresler]

Gord,

Under standard conditions, properly sized hole for the thruhull,
might have expected to hear that you used 4200.
In the past, I used 4200 for bonding/gluing thruhulls to the hull.
In this case, you chose butyl (tape?) instead.

Was the choice dictated by the 1/8" oversize hole?

Jonathan

On Thu, May 18, 2023 at 10:30 AM George Dinwiddie via Public-List <
public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:

> Yikes!
>
> I was worried about such a possibility, so a few years back I took out
> that through hull and glassed in the hole. My knotmeter hadn't worked in
> years, anyway. I use https://alberg30.org/store/knot-table.pdf instead.
>
>   - George
>
> On 5/18/23 9:18 AM, Gordon Laco via Public-List wrote:
> > So…
> >
> > Surprise was chucked into the water a little later than usual this
> year.   The weather was crappy on the first date I’d booked so I decided to
> wait a week and thereby do the final preps and launch in nicer conditions.
>  I must be becoming an adult at last.
> >
> > In we went… the Atomic IV started up without complaint, away we motored
> over to the club.  A few days later we threw the stick up then brought the
> boat back over to her slip.  I noticed on the first run to the club from
> the marina the speed function on the combination instrument wasn’t working…
> just depth.  Speed showed 0.0 knots.   After the mast raising jaunt I
> withdrew the sender (the gush of water coming in was only momentary before
> I pushed the blanker in) and flicked the spinner, hoping the issue was
> simply that I’d let a spot of bottom paint land on it.  Nope, it spun
> freely.  Hmmm… must be the sending unit itself.
> >
> > I ordered a new one.
> >
> > It came a day later and back I went into the bilge to install it.   My
> wife came to sit in the cockpit to tell me if the instrument registered
> when I flicked the senders spinner before I pushed it into the  through
> hull fitting.  I withdrew the blank, water gushed in; that stopped when I
> pushed the sending unit into place.  I felt for the alignment notch, caught
> it, then turned the knurled top of the sender to seal the thing into
> place.  I felt it tighten…. then the whole thing moved a few degrees.
>  Hmmm what the heck could that be.   I loosened it, found the alignment
> notch was still in place, but when I tightened it again, it got tight… then
> turned… much more easily this time.   And…. now water was gushing in FROM
> AROUND THE THROUGH HULL FITTING OH NO!
> >
> > Yep, the whole damned thing had come loose.   I called to Caroline to
> get the pump going,  She called back ‘call the marina’.  I was already
> doing it.   Patti at the marine listened to me tell her we had a bad leak
> around a through hull, and I asked her if they could yank us out and
> ashore.  She said ‘come right over, the guys will be waiting for you.’
> >
> > Back to the marina we went… very very glad it was close and this was
> happening during working hours.    We went right into the travel lift slip
> and in minutes we were ashore.    I climbed up into  SURPRISE and backed
> off the sender’s through hull retaining ring… the through hull fitting fell
> out.  Yikes.
> >
> > What I discovered was that years ago when the knot meter was first
> installed, the fitter used a hole cutter that was too large by about 1/8”.
> Further, his cutter made a bevel around the hole such as the old EMS
> instrument senders needed.   And… whatever he’d used to bed the fitting
> hadn’t adhered to either the boat nor the fitting.  It came off in my
> fingers as a rounded rubbery peel.
> >
> > So now I know what the mysterious slow leak was that we’d been
> experiencing.
> >
> > I built up a better fit for the sender using butyl…  tightened it
> carefully to maintain alignment then put the sender back in.  To finish off
> I made a flange of butyl around the edges of outer flange of the fitting.
>  We let everything cure for a day then went back into the water this
> morning… all well.
> >
> > How’s that for ‘a good story?’   What would I have done had I been up
> the coast somewhere or even if I’d done the sender switch after hours?
> Well I could have tried fothering the leak with a towel from the outside,
> but man it would have been tough to get it positioned under the turn of the
> bilge.
> >
> >
> >
> > Gordon Laco
> > 426 Surprise
> >
>
> --
>   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>    When I remember bygone days                         George Dinwiddie
>    I think how evening follows morn;            gdinwiddie at alberg30.org
>    So many I loved were not yet dead,           http://www.Alberg30.org
>    So many I love were not yet born.                          also see:
>                 'The Middle' by Ogden Nash     http://idiacomputing.com
>   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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-- 
Jonathan M Bresler
S/V Constance Alberg 30 #262
Annapolis/Eastport MD