inspection port for capri/omega

Fifthof7

New Member
I'm looking for advise on where to place an ispection port on my 1979 14 capri/omega. Any helpful hints or suggetions are greatly appreciated.
 
Just to see if there is any floatation in the hull and general porpuse. After we took it out last week , when I pulled the plug it seemed to have alot of water in the void. the hull doesnt have any visible holes. Thanks
 
How much is a lot? a couple gallons? 5 gallons? 20 gallons? Here is what I found with my model 3 Capri 14.2. I was sailing a lot back then because my inlaws had a place on the lake and we would spend weeks at a time on the lake. Somedays I would get a little water in the bilge and somedays several gallons, but never mor than 3 or 4 gallons. I checked for hull leaks with everything I knew and found nothing there. I suspected the centerboard slot and so I weighted the boat down at the dock and left it a while and pulled it out and almost no water at all in the bilge.
As time went on I noticed a pattern. The days that I did a lot of crashing into waves with the bow, I had more water. The point of water getting in seemed to be the joint between the deck and the hull with water crashing under there getting forced through that seem. I tried some sealers but the fact seems to be that the hull renders a bit under the strain of waves and the deck seems to not do that as much.
There might be a seal there but I don't want to split the deck from the hull over a gallon or two of water at the most after a day of sailing. I just store her with trailer tonge held way up high and the bow in the air and bilge drain open.
I have only sailed on lakes and that is what I came up with. On days where we were the only ones on the water and no wake from power boats, there was almost no water in the bilge.
I am interested to know what the answer is from some of the racers on here.
 
Inspection port

I had considered installing inspecition ports under the bench on both sides of the center of the centerboard on mine. Considering the build of the boat, this position would see like the best place to view the most of the interior with the least holes.
 
Omega 14 layout

No. The Omega 14 is largely an open dinghy. There's a bench that runs along each side all the way from the transom to the bow of the boat. The bow part of the bench, where they meet, has a small stowage compartment that's maybe 2 cubic feet in volume. The whole deck and bench structure is cast in fiberglass as a single unit.

I did a google image search and found this link.
This should give you a better idea.
 
I had considered installing inspecition ports under the bench on both sides of the center of the centerboard on mine. Considering the build of the boat, this position would see like the best place to view the most of the interior with the least holes.

FYI ... you'll be drilling through fiberglass and 3/8" plywood in that area if you didn't already know.
 
I would say, ask yourself this one question. If you dig cut a hole in there and find out the worst, what would you do about it? More than likely you got jugs of air under the benches like my capri14. You might call the manufacturer and find out for sure before cutting a hole.
Hey, I just thought about something. Some mechanics have this scope thing that they can run done a spark plug hole and look inside an engine cylinder. I wonder if you could use something like that to look through the drain hole for the bilge and see what you were looking for. I would be reluctant to cut a hole if there wasn't one there already.
My mod 3 had a fixed cuddy section and I pulled it out and made a fairly water tight door for it so I could store things in there. I was actually able to crawl in there through that hole. Not recommended for the claustrophobic. I founds these plastic bags full of air under the seats and it was damp in there but there is not much ventilation.
You got to figure, its meant to get some water in there or there would not be a drain plug.
Good luck. I would bet that any water getting in there is coming from between the hull and the deck seal area.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies, I did install two inspection ports at the stern on top of the bench "beckson see thru ports so I can glance down to monitor". I was suprised to see very lil' floatation foam inside the hull and it's way up in the bow. I have read a few posts about the "air bags" in some and will see if I can get some in there. The amount of water was only about 5 gallons but it was only in the water for about an hour.I think it was a combination of the bailing drains not being sealed, the drain plug installed by the last owner was not sealed and had no gasket the motor mount on the stern also had no sealant when installed. Everything mentioned is now sealed and I am waiting on a new centerboard seal from Catalina. :)
 

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