Moaiman Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 Hi Guys, My RHS hull in my 5.2 is taking on a lot more water than it should. I have no idea where it's leaking from. I know around the base of the dagger boards is common area to look. I've tried sealing the inspection hatches and bungs by using plumbers gas tape. That didn't make any difference. Being the latest owner of an old boat means I don't know if there's any history to it? All I know is little has been done in the past so my $ spent to fix it, is climbing. [ which means I could have bought a lot better boat] . I'll well press on any way. I thought I might take it to a servo and some how, fill it with air and listen for leaks. So if there's any other ideas how to go about fixing the problem could you let me know? Thanks Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remo Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 Fill it with water and see where it leaks from.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Don't fill it with water. The boat will explode. Reverse your vacuum and blow air into the hulls through the bog open hatch and leave the bung out as well. Then use soapy water all over the hulls and where bubbles for you have a leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remo Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Don't fill it with water. The boat will explode. Reverse your vacuum and blow air into the hulls through the bog open hatch and leave the bung out as well. Then use soapy water all over the hulls and where bubbles for you have a leak. This method has been used by many sailors on many fibreglass boats to check for leaks over many years. Obviously dont fill it until you get to 20psi, you will generally find a leak down low within a minuit or so with a hose in bungs or inspection ports. Easy. Boat will not explode. Boats are generally not volotile to H2O! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remo Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Don't fill it with water. The boat will explode. Reverse your vacuum and blow air into the hulls through the bog open hatch and leave the bung out as well. Then use soapy water all over the hulls and where bubbles for you have a leak. This method has been used by many sailors on many fibreglass boats to check for leaks over many years. Obviously dont fill it until you get to 20psi, you will generally find a leak down low within a minuit or so with a hose in bungs or inspection ports. Easy. Boat will not explode. Boats are generally not volotile to H2O! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Hmmmm, I don't like the sound of filling it with water. I'd like to know how many litres/kilos it would take to fill my 4.5, I wouldn't even consider it on an A class. I only put about 20-30 litres in mine to pin it down in Cyclone Larry, even then my trailer didn't like it much. I think the weight is too much, I'd try Matt's method first, just my opinion..... from an engineers pioint of view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcy1945 Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Blow in the bung (if fitted) fitting while somebody else listens for leaks. I have always been able to detect leaks using this method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 The boat is designed to take pressure from the outside and not the inside so I would never put water inside any hull. It will weaken it greatly. Just use the vacuum or a pump. Works every time without fail. Use very soapy water or as Darcy says, listen for it as well. But the soapy water will find all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remo Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 20-30 litres would be more than enough to detect leaks below waterline.. I am not talking about filling the thing to the brim plus some... Anyway, each to their own. Just suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 The leak could be from the inspection port on the deck or one of the deck panels needs re-gluing. While sailing the boat is pressurised and will suck in water from anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remo Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Boat hulls commonly 'Pant', they compress AND expand, depending on a lot of variables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadfoot Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Stating the obvious but have you checked the rudder gudgens. Loose ones leak like a sieve. Also my old 16 leaked through two places. The first was where the front and side stays connected to the boat. A little bit of sika flex fixed that. The other was under the deck inserts. There where a couple of spots where the inserts weren't glued down properly. Best fix is to use a paint scraper to lift the deck and glue it down properly or quick fix like me and dribble some resin in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moaiman Posted March 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Thanks for replies. I went for water in the hull. I kept an eye on how much the trailer/boat could handle. I quickly found the crack. It's right near the front rhs trailer roller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcy1945 Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 You need to replace the rollers with cradles to support the hulls over a wider area, or you will be doing this repair regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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