Taking a leak...to the WOODSHED!

[dailywarren]

Hey All, I'm ready to do battle on my 14' Skimmar (circa 1974), a little dream with an open cockpit and retractable keel. She's taking on water in the inner hull and gets real heavy after about 2 hours wet. My guess is the keel housing, which has an existing patch from repairs from the previous owner. There are no holes in the outer hull.

Any suggestions? I'm at wit's end here and don't know whether to tear into it further (I'm reading for some fiber-glassing) or try and seal it somehow or, MAYBE (hopehopehope) it's the keel housing itself that's at fault for not being completely airtight. It has plugs on both sides which may be leaky and screw holes on the top from an old hardware installation. Might it fix my problem to make sure the keel housing is completely air tight?

You can see from the pic the old repairs done to the keel housing that I pulled off, and below that the plug on the starboard side (there's another one to port). At the back of the housing is the hardware attachment plate that's been installed. Did all or some of these issues degrade the water tightness of the keel housing and is that what's causing my inner hull leak?

Thanks!

[dailywarren]

Just to be clear, as I continue my research, I should use the terms centreboard and centreboard case!

[CalebD]

Center board trunk or slot actually.
The screws or bolts you see on either side of the trunk may actually be the pivot pin for the board and could be the source of a leak into your boat.
Read up on how to use epoxy resin. West System has a great on line tutorial and use guide: WEST SYSTEM | Use Guides
You might be able to get away with buying only their small patch repair kit.
I would remove the pivot bolt and let the center board drop and examine the interior of the hole. My suggestion would be to clean up the hole a bit with some rolled up sandpaper, vacuum out the dust, clean it with Acetone or denatured Alcohol and apply a few coats of epoxy inside to reduce or stop the leakage.
You should also 'bed' the bolt ends with a product (the consistency of snot) like 3M 4200 or even Butyl tape.
I also have a fiberglass 14' day sailor that took on water after being afloat for a few hours.

[dailywarren]

That was awesome, and I'm halfway there already. Thank you!

[CalebD]

Don't thank me yet.
It may all depend on what you find inside the pivot hole. If it is badly worn in there you may need to beef it up with a little fiberglass cloth which is included in this repair kit: xhttp://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|10918|12212|309317|636686&id=15810

The repair kit does not include the solvents necessary to clean up afterward but should be close to the amount of 'snot' you will want.