Another Bailer Question.....

Zrtsixx

Zrtsixx

Member
My Sunfish is a 1975. The bailer appears to have a gasket (?) between it and the hull.....
Bailer rear view.JPG
Bailer sideview.JPG

I don't know if this is original or not... but it seems to me that it will cause water to leak into the hull. When I look at the current breakdown, it does not show any type of gasket other than the o-ring. What is the best thing to do? Replace it, remove it, or?
Thanks!
 
The o ring will keep the bailer from mating perfectly with the hull. Looks like there may be an o ring in there, and silicone (now missing) was used to seal the gap. You can either re-silicone or remove the o ring and just use lots of silicone. Unless your boat is coming apart, even if the bailer is missing, water will not enter the hull, although the cockpit will fill up! BB
 
"GOOP" makes a silicone-removal substance for better sealing of "recaulking" jobs.

The bailer does not mate perfectly mate with the hull, and it's likely engineered that way. Bailers are probably not so bad used off a beach, but docks are killing them off. Even after rebuilding them, bailers are proving to be such troublesome gizmos, I'm going to eventually remove them from my Sunfish(es) as they fail—and do without.
 
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