Getting Water in My Hull

markfisk

New Member
I have a Mod 3 Capri. When I go on vacation up to Wisconsin I sail hard and keep my Capri in the water for a week. We have a blast sailing on the big waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

My problem is that the boat will slowly take on water to the point where by the end of the week I may have 10 gallons when I pull it out and drain it. My drain plug is good and there are no visible cracks in the hull.

I believe that I am getting water forced up through the centerboard slot and it must be getting into the hull where the centerboard box attaches to the floor.

This spring I plan to I replace the sealant where the centerboard box attaches to the floor and also replace the centerboard seal strip.

Can anyone provide advice, pictures, diagrams on how to do this work?

Is this done with the boat right side up or flipped over?

Type sealant to use?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
You can remove the 4 phillips head srcews from the centerboard bracket and the entire centerboard assembly will pull up. I 've attached photos from Catalina Direct which shows how the bracket cradles the centerboard at the pivot point. You can use any silicone based caulk just be sure the area is clean so the silicone will adhere. As for the CB Gasket set...the screws are on the hull :(
 
Your problem sounds exactly like mine. I also suspect the centerboard trunk. Last summer i tried getting in there with some sealant but it did not work. The factory sealant squeezeout was as hard as a rock and uneven. I think i just ended up gooping on top of it. My plan this spring is to try to presurize the hull and see if i can determine where exactly the boat is leaking. If it is the trunk, i have no idea how im going to fix it. Almost seems like you need to get in there and grind out the old sealant so you have a smooth surface to work with. Problem is, there is no room to work in there. If anybody has suggestions, lets hear em.
 
Inspect it carefully first.

I used to get a few qts of water in my hull when i left it in for the week-end. I thought it must be the center board trunk, but when I inspected it (lying on the ground with a flashlight) on the trailer I found everything looked very dry and secure. So I took out every screw and fitting on the "floor" of the boat and rebedded them with a silicone sealant. BTY, I also lubricated my plug with silicone grease, but that was not the problem in my opinion. Since then I have had no detectable water in the hull. I think when I was getting water in the boat from various sources, rain, up through the CB slot, waves over the bow, the water was coming down through the "floor" to the concealed space below. So you might take a careful look at that area to see if you see anything obvious before you start taking things apart.
 
My mod 1 used to get water up in it, from rain! It'd leak past the plywood door. Also I imagine that sitting in water bouncing all the time, could splash water onto the door and fill it that way as well... again mod 1 only.
 
taking on water

Catalina advised that the leaking is almost certainly not at the gasket attachment.
But worn or missing gaskets can direct water toward the trunk-to-floor joint which is very often the problem.
To seal the joint, remove the board, work from the top, clean the joint with acetone, use a quick setting sealant like 3M 4200 and caulk. You wont be able to get any tool into the space so you will have to work the caulking into the joint with your fingers. Use gloves, or I just taped my fingers, masking the area first reduces clean up time. Mine sucked up quit a bit of sealant so I let it cure once then made another pass.
It worked for me. Good luck!
Replacing the gaskets is more labor intensive. Of course for this you remove the mast & CB and flip the boat. The gaskets are held into recesses in the hull with adhesive, a plastic strip on each side and a bunch of screws. The plastic becomes brittle and breaks. The gaskets and strips from catalina are not expensive and the strips come predrilled and countersunk (screws included) but the new holes usually do not align with the old. So that means filling the old and drilling new. Remove the old adhesive and clean with acetone. Take care to keep the gaskets and the strips flat and prevent buckling as you install the new. I glue the gaskets in first (hard to clamp for tight fit. I layed the plastic strips on top of the gasket cloth and weighted down with a lot of bricks.) then start screws from the middle of the plastic and work towards both ends. Drilling through the fabric gaskets does not work well. I used a hot ice pick to burn the new holes in the cloth.
PIA job. Good luck again!
 
Taking on water

A simple method to find out if water is leaking through from the floor is to put several inches of water inside the floor with some type of coloring that will not stain. Plug the slot with duct tape and wait. If colored water comes out of the drain hole, you have nailed it down. However, if none leaks through it will be time to lift up the stern and add water and die into the drain hole. Level the boat and watch for colored water to drip out. By lowering the bow and then raising the bow you should find anything capable of leaking. Please dont pressurize your hull much over 1/4 psi if you want to keep it. Charley
 
Taking on water

A simple method to find out if water is leaking through from the floor is to put several inches of water inside the floor with some type of coloring that will not stain. Plug the slot with duct tape and wait. If colored water comes out of the drain hole, you have nailed it down. However, if none leaks through it will be time to lift up the stern and add water and die into the drain hole. Level the boat and watch for colored water to drip out. By lowering the bow and then raising the bow you should find anything capable of leaking. Please dont pressurize your hull much over 1/4 psi if you want to keep it. Charley

I recently Turtled and the hull filled with water. It was towed to shore and drained. To find where the leak was I used an electric blower used to fill toys at the plug and felt around to see where the leak was. It was in the top of the Cutty. With this sealed I again tested the hull and all was fine. Now I'm working on preventing Turtling.
 
Does the centerboard trunk attach to the cockpit floor in any way or are they just pressed together (with sealant covering any gap that remains)?
 

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