Getting water in haul- where is it getting in?

U

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I just bought my 89' Capri, took it out for it's first sail and found that I'm getting water in the haul. The boat looks sound and does not have any visible cracks. My first thought is it's coming in somewhere around the centerboard. Does anybody have any ideas? Mike
 
Water in the hull

Try this: With the boat sitting level on the trailer, try hosing a few gallons into the hull and see where it comes out. One possibility is a faulty drain plug. (Easy and cheap to replace. Available from Catalina.)

Was the hull dry before you started out? If not, there are lots of places where rain water can get in, like various deck fittings or the cuddy door.

But if the hull was dry to start with and unless you were taking on a lot of spray, etc., deck leaks are unlikely.
 
Ed, Thanks I will have to try to fill the hull up with water and see what happens..... It's not a plug problem that's in good shape, and not rain water, I let all the water out and went back out still had the same problem !


Mike
 
Hull leak

Be careful about putting a lot of water in the hull. It's real heavy (8 lbs a gal.) and the excess weight while sitting on the trailer could damage the hull.

The old Mod 1s had the hull and deck glued together. (Now they're bolted) Sometimes the glue joint went bad. If you look inside you might see light coming in the crack if you have that problem.
 
Drain plug

Are you SURE the drain plug is good? Try putting lots of water in with the plug in place and make sure.
 
I agree with ED that the boat may have had water already in it. This has happened to me a few times. Because of the shape of the hull, if there is water inside it will not all run out with the boat setting level on a trailer, etc. My trailer has a hand cranked jack on it with a wheel to roll the boat trailer around . When I park the boat, I always run this jack all the way up and then set it on a 5 gallon pastic bucket turned upside down so that it puts her bow way up in the air and no water can stay in there. Also I too thought I had a leak around my centerboard trunk, this was not the case. I usually go sailing for a week at a time(vacation) on a large lake and usually sail 100+ miles during that week(I love the GPS, it tracks miles traveled, speed, etc.). I noticed that I only get water in the bilge on days when boat traffic(wake) or waves are heavy. I take my boat out of the water at the end of each day(long story). The water seems to be coming in at the gunnel seal where the two halves (hull/deck) fit together. I have not found exactly where(I think the hull flexes, so there may be a small gap opening and closing while under sail that I can't find on the trailer. Its never over a couple gallons and I pull bilge plug at the end of each day, so I have about given up looking for it.
 
I found the holes!!!! It looks like somebody was mad at the previous owner and drilled about 6 holes along the bunks. I picked up some Marine Tex to fill them, and we will see what happens next time I go out.
I looking over the boat and I think I saw one of the holes but I thought it was just a chip out of the gel coat. Thank you for your suggestions they helped...... Last week I had to leave the boat on the beach so when I put her back on the trailer that is when I found the problem.
Mike
 

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