In a leaky boat
I have an old wooden Hartley TS16 made in 1974 with first epoxy glues on the market. These glues have a limited life and my boat is reaching that life. I was aware my boat was leaking but the problem started to become critical. The leak was on the port side but because I did not have an access hatch on the port side of the centreboard I did not notice it developing. I only saw the water when there was enough water to come around the centreboard case.
This made me think the centreboard case was leaking. So in the winter, I studied the centreboard repair article on the website and rolled over Elasari and pulled out the board. There I found quite a bit of delamination of the dynal sheathing just inside the centreboard case. The article tells you to remove the bolts to take the case of the skeg but my bolts were below the level of the skeg and had been filled up with epoxy glue. I did not have the time or energy to spend days chiselling out the epoxy and wood to free the bolt heads so I decided to try and fix it in place my using cake spatulas to force epoxy into the delaminated areas. Unfortunately, after a made the first "icing" using Bunnings epoxy and some fiberglass tape a cold spell hit and the epoxy would not go off. The second attempt I used North Epoxy and things went a lot better. I put the centre board in after a quick re-coat and the sealed up the pin by using sealastic and screw in plywood panels on each side of the case. I did not have time to test the fix before bring the boat home. This was my second mistake; the first was using Bunning’s stuff.
I tested the fix on a cruise to Barr Island and still I only had an access port on the starboard side of the centreboard and after launching I saw no leaks. I checked a few more times on the starboard side only and all was fine so sat back to enjoy the motor cruise to Barr Island. When I prepared to beach Elasari at Barr Beach I reach down to get the anchor and saw considerable water under the bench. This turned out to be about 200mm of water in the bilge.
I got the boat home a Norm Thompson suggested I fill up the boat with water while on the trailer then wait underneath to see where the water runs out. I filled it up to the floor boards and I only saw a few drops come out of the very front and rear of the centreboard case. I painted some epoxy glue on the inside around the ear of the centre board case and planned to check it out more carefully on the next cruise. On the Clontarf Cruise I had all the floor access ports open which are located under the crews sitting position and another set near the drain plugs. So with some help from friends, driving the boat, I used a torch a fingers to check for leaks around the centre board. Slowly water came in again this time only on the port side at the rear of the board. I came to the conclusion I might have to take out the case after all and start again. So in the Christmas break I took it to Port Macquarie where I had room to roll and work on the boat. While removing the plywood panels I saw wet plywood and realised I had to tidy up the surface around the Pin to make a good seal. Detailed a fiddly sealing job I again tried fixing the rear of the centre board case using the “cake icing” technique. After I completed this I decided to again follow Norm’s suggestions and room all the floor boards I could and take it out and test it. This time I practically hugged the centre board for the first ten minutes looking for leaks and nothing appeared. But because I as was looking nonstop I did see water flowing over the last chine (one nearest the skeg) heading towards the rear of the centre board case. I jumped to the first chine under the port side seat and saw water trickling in over this chine and down to the next one. I checked the other chine on the same side and while there was no water the wood was damp. Finally, I had found it. The centre board was totally water tight the leak was in the chines.
Getting back to land I found a hairline crack in the hull beneath the port bench at the first chine just back from where the boat is supported by the trailer. This crack in the paint could not be seen by the eye only by a careful feel of the hand. I pushed this crack with a screw driver about 40mm old epoxy and paint felt out of the join. I used a chisel and cleaned out the join or loose epoxy for about 700mm and only about 400mm on the starboard side. I let the boat dry out which did not take long over Christmas then with a very fluid epoxy sealing the inside joins behind the chines by balancing the boat it a way that allowed the epoxy to soak in. Then using epoxy filler sealed the joins from the outside and then repainted the boat. Having learned mistake of not testing the fix I took Elasari out again this time perched under the seats looking for leaks along any chines. After 20 minutes of motoring I was very happy that the boat was bone dry in all areas I could see which included everything accept under a cockpit floor epoxy into the frames. Then I installed a hatch on the port side of the case.
So things I have learned from this event are;
- The only way to be certain about the origins of a leak is to remove all floors and buoyancy and search the whole boat
- That old boats need all joins checked regularly even of the paint looks good
- Using boating products not Bunnings
- Have access ports on both sides of the centreboard case
- Always check your work with a proper test
Alan Scott
Owner of dry boat, for now.