Tiny Little Stones - Very Annoying

Leo Lerner

Leo Lerner

New Member
Right, I've just been given a 1980 Laser - Suffolk Mud - and having given it a good look over, only one thing seems to be wrong with it: gravel in the hull.

I think that someone must have left it on a beach without a bung, and waves swept hundreds of tiny pebbles into the boat.

My boatman cut a 4" hole next to the daggerboard casing, but it's very difficult to get the stones out, because I can't get them right under the hole.

I've tried with a hoover, and with water pressure, but neither worked.

I think that I may have to cut another hole in either the stern or underneath where the rudder would go.

Can anyone tell me what the best thing to do would be. I don't want the sound of hundreds of stones swishing back and forth every time I hike out!

P.S. If possible, please could I also have some advice on how to install an Inspection hatch, post hole forming.

Thanks.
 
I agree--madness would ensue!

How about this: Transom lifted so the boat is tilted forward. Garden hose in transom bung hole. Wet/dry vacuum in the inspection port.
 
I would try a vacuum cleaner with a flexible hose. You may not get all the gravel out, but it should help.

I see, Merrily just came up with a similar idea.
 
most of the stone will probably end up right around the mast step if you tilt it up and by the drain plug if you tilt it back, I would suggest tip it forward so that the stones settle by the mast step, then take a powerful wet/dry vac and stick the hose through the inspection port and snake around by the mast step, I bet you'll get most if not all of it out this way, you want to make sure you've got a powerful enough wet vac that you can pick up larger stones than are in the hull, this will make it alot easier

I would say don't cut another inspection port unless you have to repair the mast step or something, inspection ports are notorious for leaking so its really a last resort especially if you're going to race,
 
what i think might work is if you tilt the boat so the bow is higher then the stern then stick a garden hose in the inspection port and open the bung hole, then you can try to wash all the pebbles out the bung hole try to get a little water pressure and that should get them out. all the pebbles got in there with water and a open bung hole so they might just go out the same way with some water and a open bung hole.
 
Yep, definitely stones. Just from reaching into the HOLE (not inspection port, that's going to be tricky) this morning I managed to get about ten stones. I also did find some fibre-glass like material, which was about the same size and weight. I've filled the boat up with water, and tipped it all out again, but no stones came out in it. I think that it is because of the lip of the drain plug, and that the its not quite at the nadir of the boat, more to one side.

I broke the hoover, it filled up with the moisture from the water I used. It's really tricky to get them out by hand, since you need someone holding the boat in exactly the right position, and you can't see what you're doing. AND, there's loads of sharp stuff between the hull and deck, which is where the stones end up if you tip the boat on it's side and forward a bit.

S'going to be great fun trying to get them out tomorrow.
 
Have you tried turning the boat deck down and then shaking the boat different ways to try to collect most of them in one spot? Once you have them in one place it might just be a matter of tilting and shaking the boat in such a way to get them close enough to your access hole (think of the boat like one of those little games you get where you have to guide a little ball bearing through a maze). I'm thinking that the underside of the deck is likely to be smoother than the inside of the hull with fewer obstructions.

Of course the simplest solution would be to learn to live with them and just get a couple at a time like you've been doing (after you install your inspection port). Can you actually hear them when you sail? I'd be surprised if you could under most conditions.
 
Leo Lerner said:
P.S. If possible, please could I also have some advice on how to install an Inspection hatch, post hole forming.
Click to expand...

Windline Sails has a nice tutorial: http://www.windline.net/iport.htm

It's really easy - I used a Roto-zip tool to cut mine instead of a jigsaw. After that, just a bit of 3M 4200 (or caulk) and then screw the port down. If it is a curved surface of the deck, be careful not to tighten it down so much that it warps the new inspection port.

Cheers,
tag
 
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