Leaks in waves/heavy air

[Sisu]

Our M25 is pretty beat up - before we got it, it was in a pretty nasty grounding (repaired decently by the prior owner but not professionally), and last summer we had a keel wire failure (the previous owner said he used stainless; he didn't, and of course that was the one bit of critical maintenance I decided to defer). There are a few repairs to the keel trunk as a result, and some are better than others. This winter I'm going to drop the keel and re-glass a big part of that area.

In the meantime, I seem to have some serious leakage going on when the boat is underway in waves. Yesterday I raced it singlehanded in 12-17 kts (1st to finish, probably 2nd overall!), and came back with about 7 gallons of water in the bilge. In light air we barely get any, and if it's on the mooring for a few weeks the water level in the bilge hardly changes (some of the repairs do constantly leak a little). We didn't have trouble with water ingress to this extent last year, but we also didn't sail the boat as much.

Anyone have a similar experience? Whenever we're underway in these conditions I usually have to be on deck, so I can't inspect the area. It could be from anywhere I suppose, but I'm wondering if it could be the keel bolt being loose/gaskets worn out (the keel wire failure probably didn't help). As I said, we'll drop the keel when we pull the boat for the season and see if we can't find out for sure. There are no signs of anything catastrophic from what I can see (and it isn't any worse than it was earlier in the season), so we'll deal with the water for the season and tackle it over the winter (which starts in about a month here in Wisconsin).

[David Mellon]

In the 26M we have a dagger board. When I am using my motor at speed water siphons up the dagger board trunk and right out onto the deck. My thought is that at higher speeds water may siphon up higher into your trunk and reaching a damaged area. It might not happen at lower speeds.

[NiceAft]

In the 26M we have a dagger board. When I am using my motor at speed water siphons up the dagger board trunk and right out onto the deck. My thought is that at higher speeds water may siphon up higher into your trunk and reaching a damaged area. It might not happen at lower speeds.

David,

Above what speed does this occur?

Ray

[Jonair222]

Lock bolt hole. Around cockpit drain

CHECK UNDER BUMPRAIL- Silicone

[Sisu]

Just following up on this - turns out there was a significant fracture in the keel trunk as a result of the wire snap last year that only became apparent when the boat was stressed underway - and it was hidden under some repairs so it wasn't readily apparent until we hauled out for the season. At least we've identified the problem, and I'll get to work on my glassing skills this winter!

[NiceAft]

You live in Wisconsin, and you’re doing this work in the winter I have to assume this boat is kept indoors

Ray

[Sisu]

Yep, I'm lucky enough to have a spot in a climate-controlled storage building through my job until mid-march.

[Chinook]

Another potential source of leakage when in heavy seas is the hull/deck joint, which is covered on the outside by the rub rail. We experienced water getting inside the cabin, up in the bow area, when crossing the Neuce River and Albemarle Sound in rough seas. Our sleeping bag was getting wet up front and, after getting to the dock, I noticed that water was able to get up under the rub rail when pounding heavy seas. The flexing of the hull and deck was opening that seam enough to allow water to seep in. I've since caulked the joint, under the rub rail, with a good flexible caulk and that has seemed to fix the problem.

[Sisu]

Good thought, and our hull-deck joint has definitely been abused by previous owners. The thing has such high freeboard I don't think we're dragging the gunwale through the water that much, but maybe.