Effect of water in Hull

Q

Quagers

Member
At the weekend i made the stupid mistake of going out without the rear bung in. I realised after about 10 mins and put it back in on the water so im not sure how much got in.

But in the morning race i did terriblely, i couldnt seem to point as high or go as fast, then at lunch i drained the boat and in the afternoon was competative again. So did the little bit of water make that much difference, was it physological or was I just sailing rubbish? :confused:
 
my opinion is ... depending on how much water. it would definately make a differnece .. the sloshing of the water from side to side and forward and backward if there was waves ... not to mention the lower water line of the boat and the extra weight would all contribute to a slower boat ...

maybe you were thinking to much to ;)
 
It was mostly the water in the boat. There is a lot of extra weight from it and the constant motion of it slows you more. Trust me i dont have my own boat yet and i use the clubs boats. These boats are about 14 years old so they have quite a bit of waterin them most leak. There you go, hope this helped!

Andrew
 
I think 1 inch of water in the cockpit alone ads 30 lbs to the boat. No doubt it is slow.
 
Out of interest, do you have any idea how much water you got out of the boat (e.g. bucket loads).

Also, as I'm sure it is only a matter of time until I do the same, what do you do (if anything) about drying out the inside of the hull ?

Ian
 
I dont really know how much there was maybe 1-2 bucketfulls

I just drained it at lunch then when i packed the boat away i left the bung out, hope this was the right thing to do.
 
If you sailed it in salt water and you have an inspection port, make sure you rinse out the inside. Salt water won't ever completely dry and will get absorbed into the fiberglass. Once you've done that, place a computer fan in the hull and leave it in direct sunlight for a few days.
If you dont' have an inspection port, your best bet is to just leave the boat in the sun without the fan.
Search the forum on this too. It's been discussed before.
 
Computeroman -

nice - computer fan - I had never thought of that. No more trying to direct air in with a scoop and a big fan.

One question - how do you plug the fan in - don't computer fans have those funny pulgs on the end - can I just rip that off and attach a lamp plug? I am obviously NOT an electrician!

thanks
M
 
Go to Radioshack and tell them what you need. They'll give you some parts that can be sautered (sp?) together. If you don't have a sautering iron, find a friend or local business who does.
 
Mawill said:
Computeroman -
One question - how do you plug the fan in - don't computer fans have those funny pulgs on the end - can I just rip that off and attach a lamp plug? I am obviously NOT an electrician!
Click to expand...

This is a very bad idea, unless you like smoke and fire. Most computer
fans are DC fans, especially the ones with "funny plugs." Never plug a
DC motor into an AC line.
 
sailchris said:
What is so special about salt water that prevents it from completely drying?
Click to expand...

I don't know what the poster meant but I would think its the salt part rather than the water part. Salt attracts water so, once the water part of the sea water has evaporated it will leave its salt, which will then attract damp and tend to keep the surfaces on which salt is deposited damp.

If this is what was meant, when people make such a mistake in salt water do the rinse out the inside of the boat (e.g. hose-pipe into the drain plug) or is the amount of salt not a great issue (presumably its the sort of mistake you make once, then not again for some time).

I cannot speak for the person who made the comment - though the above is what I assumed they meant.

Ian
 
1 gallon of water equals 8.33 lbs.

do the math... 10 or more pounds of movable weight sloshing around can do NO good with pointing, speed, tacking... pretty much sailing in general...

cheers
 
I once left my boat on the trailer overnight with the tongue down. It poured rain that night, and the water in the cockpit drained through the little airhole into the boat. I drained the water out, but I knew there was some residual moisture in there.

I didn't have a port hatch and never plan to install one. To air it out, my plan was to get a fish tank air pump and some rubber tubing. I would feed the rubber tubing in through the drain hole and let the tank pump circulate air through the hull.

I figured over a long period of time, like several months while storing the boat over the winter, the continous trickle of air would eventually get all the moisture out. I never did get around to doing this, but the boat has spent enough time in the heat with the plug out that I'm pretty sure it's dry inside.
 
In my older hull I get about a half cup of water in the hull after a full day of sailing in moderate to heavy air. With no port on the deck it never seems to dry out as I can stick my little pinky finger in the hole and feel a small bit of water in there. The water doesn't drain out because the water line is not high enough to reach the drain plug level. To remove this small amount of water I open the drain plug, tilt the hull aft end down then insert about 1 to 2 inches of 1/4" dia nylon line into the hull plug hole with the other end (about 6 inches is all you need) hanging down. I can then watch the line get wet and start to drip as it draws the water out via capillary action. It seems to be adequate in removing the little bit of water that's in there.
 
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