[Rhodes22-list] Center Board Well Leak

[Lou Rosenberg]

David

Well documented!
I just spent last Fri and Sat installing the CB on my restored 1981  
boat.  I didnt have that piece of UHMWP in the shape of an upside  
down V but someone did install a V shaped SS at the bottom of the  
forward end of the trunk on the exterior.  This we guessed (Roger  
Pihlaja and I) was to suppress and additional side to side movement  
with out encumbering vertical movement of deployment/retraction.

I think I ve made all the mistakes you could make taking the board in  
and out.  This spring I  forgot to run the hose from the pennant hole  
through the open slot to the yard floor when I pulled the board. So  
you guessed it,  the rain filled my bilge and luckily just spilled  
over the open flange and out but my bilge had been redone and not  
perfectly so some water did find its way into the cockpit foam Im  
sure.  That small amount did drip out of the aft end of my keel for a  
few weeks before I painted.

The process of adding the silicone even in small amounts to the top  
of the flange while the cap and the gasket are inches away waiting to  
be installed is
painful. I used plastic wrap to protect the  pennant from fouling.
I recently thought about adding some kind of plastic strip which  
would run the entire length of the trunk and have two sets of tabs to  
separate the gasket from the top cap and the bottom flange. THe idea  
is to create a small 1/2" space when everything is all stacked up,  
but NO bolts in would allow you to add the silicone easier and then  
pull out the plastic after applying the silicone all around on both  
surfaces  top and bottom of the gasket.  The inside pc of plastic  
keeps the
goo from entering the trunk and you pull them out laterally spreading  
the goo evenly and taking out any extra you've put in.  Then you just  
add bolts  tighten and
torque.  Easier said than accomplished for sure!
Btw this job is done best by people 4ft tall so if you're vertically  
challenged I want to hire you now!

for us 6fters out there, does anyone have a good pilates tape they  
want to share?
Lou
sv Miracles


Two strips of hard plastic it could be acrylic or even garolite one  
inch high with 90° angle tabs.  The tabs would ride along the flange top
On Jul 13, 2009, at 3:42 PM, david.walker5 at comcast.net wrote:

> 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
> __________________________________________________

Lou Rosenberg
Videographer

Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and
Human Development at NYU

239 Greene Street, Room 315
lsr3 at nyu.edu

(212) 998-5122