DaySailer.org Forum

My Daysailer III accumulates a lot of water in the bilge. Seems to be greater when in motion, particularly under motor power. It was suggested to me that a good candidate is the screws for the centerboard attachment plates. My assumption is they should be unscrewed, sealant placed in the hole, then reseated. Anyone have experience with this? Any other likely causes?

Carroll Bewley (cbewley-at-lr.net)

I think you'll find rubber "washers" under the nut and head of the CB swing bolt. The bolt has to be loose enough but tight enough so there is a spacer / sleeve over the bolt. New rubber should keep you dry and safe!

MAKurtis (Emak41-at-excite.com)

Mark;
The DS III does not have a pivot bolt that penetrates the sides of the trunk like our DS IIs have, there are
2 stainless steel plates that hold in a pair of plastic wedges that hold in the pivot pin. I think that about a year or so after my 1979 DS II was built this set-up was phased in on the DS II and later used for the DS III.

Rod Johnson, "SUNBIRD" (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)

Carroll Brewley...re: water in bilge...read my recent posting under 'drain plugs', was having similar problem a few years ago...Pete T.

peter tenerowicz (peteten-at-hotmail.com)

Note to All:
I found another source of water in the DS 3's bilge. My '86 has a wire to raise the Centerboard. The wire comes into the cuddy cabin and then goes thru some blocks and then out to the cockpit. When I had several people (4 adults + 2 kids) in the boat I noticed I would get water in the bilge. But, two adults and one kid and the bilge was dry. Found the water splashing up thru the hole for the wire. The joint between inner and outer hulls had approx 1/16 inch gap which looks like it originally had a nylon grommet which is suppose to let the water flow into the cuddy then drain into the cockpit thru the cuddy cabin drain holes. The gromment was pretty much gone over the years and the water was going into the bilge. Solved the problem by applying "DAP" bath tub caulk. Found that the Almond color almost matches the color of my gel coat. I re-check each spring. Boat has been dry ever since.

Tom Mack (tommack-at-fast.net)

I have the same problem of water running in through the cable hole into the cuddy and then the cockpit of my DS 3 . Do you know how I can fix this

david (dpw1-at-earthlink.net)