Hull leak

JBMalone

New Member
I have a 2003 hull that is getting a small amount of water in it only after sailing in pretty heavy chop. That tells me that it is probably coming in somewhere in the bow. It's not the mast step though. But the baffling part of the leak is that the hull holds air. When I remove the drain plug after sailing it blows air out from the pressure build up. A lot of air every time. So how and where can water get in the hull if air cannot get out?
 
Hallo!
It's a concern that the hull can hold a pressure. That means that mechanical abuse of the hull, like bouncing on the waves or shifting temperatures put's unnecessary stress on all seals. Usually there is a "breathing" hole under the hikingstrap on the front wall of the cockpit. To restore that would be the first thing I would do.

How much water get's into the hull?
 
Now that you have me thinking about the pressure of the air vs pressure of the water, the leak being below the water line makes perfect sense. I think the fact that it is only happening in chop was throwing me. But maybe the extra pressure and stress of the chop is causing it.

I was on the water yesterday for 4 hrs, sailing in chop for about an hour and I drained about a cup of water out. So it's not terrible.

The gel coat looks great. Just a few small superficial scratches. And it has a new drain plug. So other than the drain plug and rudder fittings and the dagger board area I don't see where water can get in. But I haven't noticed any cracks around the dagger board.

Maybe without the pressure relief working the push and pull of the chop is enough to pull in water through the fittings. Somebody mentioned that there is a pressure relief valve when I was discussing it yesterday after the race as well. That was the first I had heard of it. I am thinking that I should start with fixing that. Is it just a small opening?
 
The hole just needs to be big enough to not get clogged immediatly, like 2,5-3mm. When I bought my Laser the breather hole was filled and I got about the same amount of water in the hull. In my case the self bailer screw needed to be resealed also.
 
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