barts1971
New Member
New to the forums here so apologies if there are threads that address this already. I recently bought a 1977 used boat. We completely refurbished the hull, sanded, filled in dings, etc. with Evercoat Formula 27 and then painted 2 coats with Pettit Easypoxy paint. We repaired the surface cracks in the deck with Gelcoat repair. We also pulled the two ports and reseated them with silicone sealant, as well as pulling all hardware off the hull and reseating it with new silicone sealant. The maststep appears solid and original as best I can tell. After all our work, our boat looks brand new and we launched it yesterday. Great fun!
After about 3 hours in the water, we pulled the hull drain plug and about 1/2-1 gallons of water came out. The boat is older and does not have an autobailer installed, just a cockpit drain plug which I plugged with a rubber stopper. When we were refinishing the bottom, I noted that the plastic cockpit drain assembly appeared loose as I could turn it, but was unable to unscrew it to remove and reseat it.
My question is this... is this my likely culprit leak into the hull? If so, does anyone have any recommendations for resolving this? Should I try to pull it off and replace the fitting? Just bead it with silicone against the hull? Other ideas?
If that's not my likely culprit, do you have other common places I should look for leaks and any recommendations on how to find them? I really feel the hull and deck are very solid so that's why I am focused on the drain plug.
Thanks for your help. I found these forums to be incredibly helpful as I was researching how to refurbish the boat...
After about 3 hours in the water, we pulled the hull drain plug and about 1/2-1 gallons of water came out. The boat is older and does not have an autobailer installed, just a cockpit drain plug which I plugged with a rubber stopper. When we were refinishing the bottom, I noted that the plastic cockpit drain assembly appeared loose as I could turn it, but was unable to unscrew it to remove and reseat it.
My question is this... is this my likely culprit leak into the hull? If so, does anyone have any recommendations for resolving this? Should I try to pull it off and replace the fitting? Just bead it with silicone against the hull? Other ideas?
If that's not my likely culprit, do you have other common places I should look for leaks and any recommendations on how to find them? I really feel the hull and deck are very solid so that's why I am focused on the drain plug.
Thanks for your help. I found these forums to be incredibly helpful as I was researching how to refurbish the boat...