Source of Bilge Leak

[psness]

I have a substantial leak into my bilge and can't figure out its source. It takes on a gallon easily in a half-hour sitting still. At that rate it hardly seems to be the cb bolt as it's not terribly wet or streaming in there. Could it be the self-bailer? There is a 1/8-inch gap between the hull and self-bailer and I siliconed it today. I can't see any major damage in the hull.

[Roger]

I assume the bung is in! (embarrasing) and having said that, the next place I would check is up into the cb trunk from underneath. Check it on dry land if you can, careen it if you must, but somehow you want to check as much as you can of the inner cb trunk from underneath using a flashlight.

The uphaul hole is another potential source, but unlikely if you are not moving. Water only gets in there when deflected by the cb when down, heeled, and moving.

[psness]

You're right, it's embarassing to me because I don't know what the bung is? If you mean the drain plug, yes it's in.

[Guest]

We had a similar problem. In our case it was a broken thread on the female part of the transom plug. As a temporary fix (and to verify thats were the water was getting in), I removed the both parts of the plug and siliconed a rubber (pond liner) patch over the opening. About 3" x 2" in size. When I pull it out at the end of the season, I'll let everything dry out and install a new plug assembly.

David Eberbach (DavidEberbach-at-aol.com)