Hi Gang,
For the past 10 months, I have been refinishing my 14.2. Finally I took her out on Saturday for a test run. A couple of things went wrong. There was so little wind, we couldn't get out of the small harbor. Our plan was to motor out of the harbor and look for wind but the electric trolling motor quit running after about 5 minutes. The only wind there was blew us out of the channel and into the shallows. Really shallow. Lost steerage with the centerboard up and the rudder mostly up. We paddled back to the channel and sailed back to the dock.
Whipped and defeated, we hauled her out and onto the trailer and that is when I saw what stopped the trolling motor. I had about a half gallon of water in the cabin. It got into my home made fuse connection and shorted the wires.
Before you think of all of the normal reasons for water to get in there, consider the following. This boat has not been in water in 3 years. I has been in my garage for 10 months and most of that time upside down when I completely replaced all of the gel coat and most if not all of the fittings including the C.B. gasket. There were no waves or tipping and the boat was dry in the cockpit. The cabin door and gaskets are all new and will withstand a garden hose leak check but again there was no water in the cockpit or over the sides.
When we had her up on the trailer and still on the ramp we pulled the plug and no water came out. The water in the cabin was not enough to get into the holes under the seats and flow back to the drain but enough to cause me to be concerned. Any ideas?
For the past 10 months, I have been refinishing my 14.2. Finally I took her out on Saturday for a test run. A couple of things went wrong. There was so little wind, we couldn't get out of the small harbor. Our plan was to motor out of the harbor and look for wind but the electric trolling motor quit running after about 5 minutes. The only wind there was blew us out of the channel and into the shallows. Really shallow. Lost steerage with the centerboard up and the rudder mostly up. We paddled back to the channel and sailed back to the dock.
Whipped and defeated, we hauled her out and onto the trailer and that is when I saw what stopped the trolling motor. I had about a half gallon of water in the cabin. It got into my home made fuse connection and shorted the wires.
Before you think of all of the normal reasons for water to get in there, consider the following. This boat has not been in water in 3 years. I has been in my garage for 10 months and most of that time upside down when I completely replaced all of the gel coat and most if not all of the fittings including the C.B. gasket. There were no waves or tipping and the boat was dry in the cockpit. The cabin door and gaskets are all new and will withstand a garden hose leak check but again there was no water in the cockpit or over the sides.
When we had her up on the trailer and still on the ramp we pulled the plug and no water came out. The water in the cabin was not enough to get into the holes under the seats and flow back to the drain but enough to cause me to be concerned. Any ideas?