[Copperbird]

I recently acquired a 22' Starwind (which I believe may be the same as a Chrysler 22?) and have several projects ahead of me. Most importantly I did a float test last weekend and discovered water entering the bilge at a pace too fast for comfort. The leak was entering the bilge from somewhere forward of the bilge and I'm stumped. I immediately put the boat back on the trailer and removed it from the water.
I didn't notice a drain in the anchor locker but am going to look again next visit. I can't help but wondering if I'm missing a plug somewhere. My 16' Sunbird has a cockpit drain plug but this boat has 2 drains out the back of the cockpit I assume were above water line, but can't seem to find where the water could've entered from. Perhaps I need to do another extended float test dipping her several times.
Any suggestions?
I'm gearing up to remove her from the trailer and put her on stands thinking there may be a problem with the centerboard/keel.

 

[kenr74]

I have had a few trailer sailors, although not that particular one. With boat on trailer, it should be pretty easy to check the integrity of the hull. On my boats, the only below water line thru hull I had was for the keel cable. Definitely check that. Often the keel cable runs through a piece of hose or something, and the hose can degrade, or be damaged. If it is not a thru hull, then I would next suspect the keel or center board trunk. If a swing keel, check the pin that it swings on. There may be some seals that need to be replaced. Good luck.

 

[Copperbird]

Thanks for the reply!
It's not a thru hull as well and the keel cable is in a hose in the forward part of the cockpit, it looked good but I'll check the connections and make sure it's double clamped. If it was the keel cable hose though it would be surprising to find the water entering the bilge from forward of the bilge but maybe that's the only place it can enter and the water is going around it before entering. The flow was significant like I would imagine from a 1-2" open hose. I'll test that hose and inspect further, really hoping to find the culprit of the leak before opening the can of worms of taking it off of the trailer and inspecting the centerboard trunk.

 

[Minnesail]

I've never done this, but I've heard of people doing it.

While the boat is on the trailer put a hose in the bilge and turn on the tap. Pretty soon you should be able to see from the outside where the water is coming from.

Note: Make sure you have some sort of pump so you can get the rest of the water out!

Note 2: If it doesn't start running out right away don't put too much water in, water is very heavy.

 

[Copperbird]

Isn't that my pivot pin in the center of the bilge? I think I'm going to have to get this thing on stands and off it's trailer.
After digging further turns out I have a Starwind 223 with the shoal keel and centerboard. Found another thread describing one owner of the same boat having to replace the brass floor plate that had nipples to house the ends of the pivot pin, this sounds likely with my boat as well. I've included a picture of the video I took (since I can't post the 5 second video showing the flow) showing the bilge and if you look closely you can see the running water coming in on both sides on the top of the screen. I noticed little pieces of wood flowing with it in the video.

 

[deniseO30]

Yep you have a leak! I've been in a Chrysler 22 I never realized to pivot pin was so close or actually under the waterline so it's pretty obvious you're going to have a problem,.

Don't know if these parts would work but as I mentioned in your other thread boats in the 22 foot family are very very similar to each other and yes your boat was probably built by Chrysler
https://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/173/c-22-keel-pivot-pin-bushing.cfm

 

[jephotog]

My first boat besides a sunfish was a Chrysler 22. Unless the previous owner hit something there is no other through hulls or source of a leak besides the keel pivot pin. Mine had a leak also but I was fortunate it somehow only leaked so much, left a few inches in the sole of the boat and stayed at that level.

It's been a while but this is what i recall the setup:

There are plates on either side of a hump where the pin goes. The plates are circular and glued and screwed into place. There is a plumbing type cap on the starboard side. With some vicegrips you should be able to unscrew this cap and remove the pin.

There was a yahoo group for the boat back in the day. The sure fix was to lift the boat remove this pin. drop the keel. Remove and clean up the plates. Some had new plates custom made. If your plates are re-usable clean them up and the surface up and reinstall.

It is a major project. I never did mine because it was easier just to pump out a few inches of water everytime I went sailing. It did make me nervous leaving a leaking boat each time i left. Good luck with the repair.