taking water through centerboard tube on Sailmaster 22?

[woodwind]

Well, after spending nearly all summer in the boatyard working on her, i finally launched my 1965 Sailmaster Saturday. She sat for 24 hours and took no water on, so, with my fingers crossed, I sailed her about 20 miles (3 1/2 hours) on a very close reach in about 15 knts of wind to where i will be keeping her. When we arrived at the marina, I found about 8 gallons of water in the bilge (and water splashed on the top of the floorboards below the companionway). I let her sit for several days during which time she didn't take on any water (she took some on last night --though it may have been from an overnight shower, since my cockpit drains into the bilge at the moment).

So..here's my question. WE sailed most of that twenty miles well heeled. Not with the lee rail awash, but certainly at a good tilt close hauled. Is it possible those eight gallons rode up the centerboard tube and splashed out underway? Or do I have an unhappy keelbolt aft of the centerboard tube (the bilge ahead of that area was bone dry).

Thougts? Suggestions? Things to look for?

[Tom Javor]

YEAH! Another Sailmaster 22 ! Hull number? Daysailor or Weekender?

One question I've got is what's going on with your cockpit scupper drains? Could the water in the bilge be from them?
Also some boats have vents under the cockpit benches that go into the cabin - heeled with water in the cockpit could be a source. Another source could be if you've got a hatch cut into the rear of the cockpit to access the engine controls. Did you have your engine in the well during the sail? If not, was the plug in the well? You could have water draining from the lazarette somehow.

[Andrew]

Congratulations on getting the boat in!

That actually happened to me once as well, though I was driving the boat under power through chop. When I looked down below I noticed that there was some water pooled around the tube that the pennant comes through, so I am assuming that is where it came in. Because of the angle of the tube on the weekender models, I think it is pretty easy for water to get pushed up the tube, especially with speed and waves. After that incident, I made sure the rubber cap at the top of the tube was secure (it wasn't before) and haven't had an issue since. I'm not sure if that would account for 8 gallons over three hours, but that combined with some spray in the cockpit draining into the bilge could explain it.

[woodwind]

Well, I called a friend this evening who also has a Sailmaster 22, and asked him about it, and he said he gets "a lot" of water splashing up out of that tube when he's healed, so he tries to remember to stick a rag in the top of the tube; he thought it was certainly possible to take on eight gallons that way after sailing well heeled/hard on the wind for 15-20 miles. No spray landed in the cockpit that day and I have no leaks on deck and no leaks from the lazarette area, possibilities Tom suggested.

I have the rubber cap on the tube, but there's still an opening in that. So...

The boat has sat since then (Sunday) and hasn't taken on water. So, I'm assuming the water either came up the centerboard tube, or I have a keelbolt that leaks when healed (but I assume a leaky keelbolt would also leak when the boat is just sitting). I guess I'll find out for sure when i take the boat out again this weekend. My plan is first to motor her while she's level and see if motion alone leads to taking on water, and then to go out and see what happens under sail.

The bilge was dry forward of the centerboard post, so any water that splashed in from the tube would have drained aft of it.

It's a little disconcerting because I've basically worked on the boat all summer to get her in. There was some recoring to do (I removed all the genoa tracks, coming boards, winches and winch blocks, and tore out the old coring and a yard did the glass/new foam core work). The rudder needed to be repaired (I removed it, ground it down, and re-installed it--the yard did the glass work and fairing).

I removed the old wire main halyard and wire winch and switched over to a rope halyard and installed a small winch for it on the mast.

I had to reglue the winch base blocks--they were made of eleven cross-cut slices for an altrenating light/dark look, and put nine coats of varnish on them, the tiller and the combing boards.

I removed all the old thru-hull fitting and broken knot-meter thru-hull gizmo. I had to cut the valve assemblies off the thru-hulls, because they were so frozen after 45 years nothing would come loose. I plugged each with a dowel and lot of cauling, then simply capped them. I've done this on other boats and it is a solid fix. I put a thru-hull in the old know meter hole and did the same with that.

I had to replace two bad turnbuckles, replaces the old wire-rope jib halyard with rope (stayset, like the main halyard).

I had to rebolt the centerboard bracket to the new cockpit coring, but the centerboard is jammed up in the trunk and half-gone anyway.

I had to remove the tabernackle and have a new bottom half fabricated, and then reinstall that. man, getting those bolts out was a bitch..they were fused to the plate with rust.

Removed the old Mercury controls mounted in the cockpit.

As usual, there were lots of other little things I can't remember doing that ate up the days. Right now, I'm trying to rewire it--the old system was ancient and the wiring was a mess (a red battery wire for the Main Ground!). It was impossible to get anything done in June, and I ahd to wait for the yard to finish the glass work before I could put the boat together again. The yard does good work, but they took their time, and then, if it wasn't raining anymore it was too hot some times to do the glassing, gelcoat, etc.

But I got her in and at least now I can work on her in the water rather than in the corner of some hot dusty boatyard. And, of course, I can sail her (as long as whatever water coming in is coming in through the centerboard tube--if not, I don't even want to think about having to pull the boat, try to get the last two keelbolt nuts off and rebed them. They are so rusty I suspect they will not budge.

[Tom Javor]

sounds as if you've got a Weekender, I've got a '64 Daysailor, but wanted a Weekender. Luckily Ihaven't encountered any core troubles. Good cleaning, some bottom paint, plugged the through hulls and a bit of epoxy work on the boom and I was sailing.

Where are you located? Greenwich Bay in RI here. 1964 Hull #4 though sail #3. New sails are on my list.

By the way - pictures! we all want to see pictures.

I need to do the centerboard project as well - there are several of us that need them. Possibly we might find it more reasonable to all have them fabricated/shaped by the same shop and then arrange to pick them up - depending on where the boats are.

Fellow fom Mass whose boat is in Maine had his made up this past winter out of stainless -which is probably not in my budget.

[woodwind]

My centerboard is badly corroded away in the forward end around the pin, and what's left is jammed in the trunk. Tried to free it but it wouldn't give at all. Probably a nightmare of a job to remove it, so I think I'll be sailing without it.

The coring was an issue, but the boat I came across had a great sail inventory--three very good headsails, a spinnaker, and a relatively new main with two sets of reef points--and was rigged really well--traveler on the lazarette, genoa tracks aft & jib sheet tracks forward of that--and the interior was in excellent shape, as were the wooden spars (it's got a round boom). I only paid $500 for the boat, so with the repairs she ended up costing me $2500, which I would have paid for the boat had she not needed the repairs.

She's a great boat for the Great South Bay on Long island's south shore, which has lots of shallow/shoal areas and gets lots of wind (afternoon summer sea breezes of 18-20 knts are common, and the seabreeze sometimes blows even harder). The bay is also known for its steep chop, so a stiff boat with a seakindly hull is nice around here.

At any rate, I love the lines on the boat. The more modern, high-freeboard, flat bottom, outboard bracket on the stern type of vessel just doesn't appeal to me asthetically.