DaySailer.org Forum

Had my boat out for the first time last week. The self bailer in the rear of the boat was bad and I had to oder a new one from D&R, which by the way did not fir and required modification.
When I removed the old self bailer, water started dripping out from the plywood between the galss bottom and galss floor. It was not a steady drip but lasted all day and totaled about a half glass of water.
Does anyone have any ideas where it might have entered from. There are no visible cracks anywhere on the bottom side.I am letting it dry out before I install the new bailer.

Thanks for any info

jack (jacmar007-at-prodigy.net)

sorry, forgot to hit my spell check !!!

jack (jacmar007-at-prodigy.net)

Jack, how well was that original bailer sealed to the hull and cockpit? Water may have leaked in around the bailer and into the plywood between the hull and cockpit moldings. Also, maybe the transom drain for the bilge was not fully sealed, and water could have migrated in through that area. My transom is a little wet, I have tried drying it out over the winter by removing the bilge drainplug and flange, and then resealing the flange. I have also removed and resealed the rudder gudgeons, including changing from 2 screws and 2 bolts, to 4 bolts for each one. I think that most of the moisture in my boat's transom actually came from the outboard bracket that the original owner installed (I'm owner # 3) the bolts were not sealed properly and water obviously leaked in, worse yet was the one mounting hole where he could not get access to use a bolt and used a STEEL lagscrew. The last possibility for a leak is the 1" brass or bronze draintube in the transom that is above the lower gudgeon, mine had slowly corroded away, and this could have allowed water to seep into the transom core and could migrate to the area around the self-bailer. I replaced that and sealed it well.
My 1979 appears to be solid fiberglass around the bailer, but maybe yours is different.

Rod Johnson (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)