posted July 24, 2002 03:51 PM            

When she takes on water, or tips, the hull (space between outer hull and floor of boat)fills up with water. I can't figure out how it floods in there. The floor of the boat has some tiny cracks and there appear to be a couple of thin cracks under the front deck.

Has anyone else has and solved this challenge? How did you do it?

I want to act soon because last time she tipped, the boat almost started to sink! Is the hull supposed to be water-tight to provide flotation?

Thanks for your help.

Paul

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Cheers,

To answer you question, "YES" the hull is supposed to be watertight to provide floatation. Aside from any cracking, I would suggest you check the snugness of the centreboard bolt. A second thing you can check is the tightness of the drainplug on the transom. This turned out to be my problem. Sit in the stern area, open the lazarette and watch for water seeping in. Another problem I've found is that there is a bit of cracking where the seats are fastened into the floor. I plan to take the seats out and fill the holes with resin and re-insert the seats after the resin has cured.

As for capsizing I can suggest two preventative measures. 1) Head up into the wind to depower the sails and 2) Don't put the mainsheet in the jamcleat in heavy air. The old saying is "if in doubt, sheet out"
Sometimes those jamcleats work a bit too well and they won't release properly when under a really heavy load.

Robert
Celtic Kiss #2120