when the boat goes fast I get water coming in through the centerboard slot. No problem, except one day when I was going really fast in choppy water it came in faster than went goes out through the two drain holes. " I'm Sinking!" I said to myself. I found getting my (solo) weight forward and flattening the boat helped reduce the incoming H2O and I survived.
1) is this a common problem?
2) what can you do about it?
Yep, centerboard gasket. I made a point to tell Catalina the year of my boat and the retaining strips were still drilled wrong, so I ended up using the old ones. Hopefully you'll have better luck.
you are correct. It is an Omega 14. It was restored by the previous owner who purchased it for that purpose. He was not a sailor. Thanks for the idea of the foam. I made a wooden plug that seems to be working so far. I thought it was a little heavy, but then it is at the best possible place to have weight, low and near the center of gyration. Jim