leaky self bailer

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leaky self bailer

Postby jdoorly » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:23 pm

Last year I would always take on a quart of water for every 2 hours in the water. After removing the lower gudgeon, re-drilling bigger holes and filling the holes with epoxy, then re-drilling bolt diameter holes, and remounting the gudgeon the bilge stayed dry until this summer. Now, the bilge fills about twice as fast. So, I poured a couple gallons in the bilge with the boat on the trailer and the water started dripping from the bottom of the bailer (I set the trailer at an angle so that I could tell the difference between a bilge bung leak and a bailer leak).

I removed the bailer and found the inner plastic cracked and broken. The hole was made up of 3 layers; the top and bottom were inner and outer fiberglass hulls. The middle I thought was water soaked wood until I grinded on it (to create a foothold for the epoxy plug) and now I don't know what it is! Perhaps some previous owner treated the wood with penetrating epoxy or other. Anyway, I cleaned the area and used a shop-vac to blow it dry for an hour. Then filled the hole with thickened epoxy, effectively loosing the self draining ability. I plan on drilling a new hole and plugging it whenever in the water, though I may try making a venturi and attaching it to the bottom. Also alternativly, I read about someone who ran a 3/8" copper tube over/or thru the transom and let it drag in the water so that it siphoned water out of the cockpit.
DS2 #6408 "Desperado"
jdoorly
 
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Location: CT

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