I had a harrowing experience on my first trip out on my 81 DS2 this weekend. I was with 3 other sailing in the bay on a pretty calm day, no gusts and light chop.
Long story short I notices the boat wasn't responding to tiller input quickly and coming from port to starboard tack took forever nearly staling before completing the tack. Once we got on starboard tack the boat started to heel I corrected by turning into the wind but nothing happened. I went hard over and by this point the gunwale was under water and the boat was on its side before i could release the mainsheet. After we righted and bailed, water was pouring in from the CB cable hole, the plastic fitting was pushed up the cable and there was 1.5" stream of water rushing into the boat. I was able to plug with a shirt and bag while everyone else bailed. the cockpit was nearly empty when the transom went below the water. I sent the 2 girls to the bow for balance and continued to bail like mad. I came to the realization that we were sinking and my bilge must be flooded which is why we are sitting so low in the water.....
long post short Murphy and his law also joined the crew... submersible VHF yeah right that stopped working right after the knockdown. Flares.. they were in the other bucket I used to bail now they are wet. Finally we get a local friend via cell and towed back to the marina.
My question is, where do I even begin to start to look for this leak? I'ts not a trivial amount of water. My assumption is that my bilge was partially flooded before I tacked and the weight of the water and it finding the lowest point is what put us over. I'm guessing that its the CB somewhere... would a shot set of washers allow that much water in? Faulty bailer? I'm at a total loss right now and am bringing the boat back to the marina I purchased it from. They said they are going to pressure test the hull and seem to be supportive in the issue but lets see what really happens.
The good news is that everyone made it back ok, the only loss on the day were our lunches, and some of my ASA books that didn't find their way into the dry bags.
Thoughts?