[Rhodes22-list] Center Board Well Leak

[David Walker]

Rummy,

Glad to  be back.  BTW how's your gas tank?  Any Kabooms yet?

As for the UHMWPE, there is a lot of it on my boat clearly from the factory. 
The pop top slider, boom slider and most of the outboard mount.  Any way 
thats not the point.   I just wanted to let people know what they might 
find.

The kneeling to get the cap off was fun.  I used tile layers neepads and 
that helped a lot.  The tough part was getting the backing wrench on the 
bolt heads under the flange.


David Walker

www.davidwalkerphotography.com

Event Specialists

781-639-2707 Office
781-718-8690 Cell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <R22RumRunner at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 4:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Center Board Well Leak


> Dave,
> Welcome back to the list. Finding leaks can be a real problem when there
> are previous owners possibly involved. I have been inside five centerboard
> trunks over the years and everyone one is different. No two were 
> identical.
> Previous owners or who knows who had been changes to the pulley systems 
> and
> parts that operate the centerboard. I can pretty much assure you that the
> use of  UHMWPE was not a factory fix. Glad you were able to make the 
> repair
> once you  knew the problem. Working in that area certainly is not fun. I
> can't kneel for  extended periods anymore. Old age is beginning to take 
> it's
> toll on my poor  abused body.
>
> Rummy
>
>
> In a message dated 7/13/2009 3:43:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> david.walker5 at comcast.net writes:
>
> 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
>
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