My problem solved itself.....sort of!

[djn]

When I went to the boat a month ago, there was a foot of ice in the bilge. Needless to say, it had me worried, but I couldn't get to it for personall and business reasons. In this last heat wave here in Michigan, the ice melted, so I ran down to the boat to pump it out and to my suprise, not only had it melted, it drained out. So now I don't have water in my bilge, but I do have leakage. Come spring I will dump a couple of buckets of water (loaded with red dye) and when it leaks out, I'll have an indication of where the bottom needs attention. Cheers.

[Concordia...41]

Proof positive that a certain percentage of things - when left alone - will solve themselves.

[Rich VanValkenburg]

I'm surprised that your hull doesn't have a drainplug. Sonja has one and even when she was kept outside I unscrewed the plug so nothing would stay in the bilge. I'm not beating you up, I'm just surprised.

I have to be extra careful with water after haulout because the lead ballast has a crack that runs fore and aft. Years ago, the crack widened every winter after water got in there until it was a half inch wide. When I replaced the keelson I used big C clamps and gently pulled the ballast back together. I sealed the best I could and drilled a hole in the ballast near where I suspected the bottom of the hole was and it drained for several seconds.

I think the crack was there as the pour cooled when it was built and just grew over time.

Rich

[StevenBauer]

The leakage is normal. As the planks dry they shrink. When you relaunch they'll swell again. Two weeks before we launched Talisman I started spraying the inside down once a day. After spraying the hose around the entire inside of the hull I'd climb down and see water dripping from hundreds of places - like one of those rain forrest showerheads! Needless to say I was a little nervous on launch. But, no worries. The large bilge pump (550gph) never even came on and the small one (150 gph)shut off after 45 minutes. I wouldn't bother with the dye. Waste of time. You'll be too busy with more important things anyway.


Steven

[djn]

Hi Steve, launch is a problem for me. Our club rents a crain and launches 30 boats in one day....unfortunetly, mine was the last to come out and now the first to go back in so I can't leave it in the slings. I will probably borrow a number of bilge pumps and stick them in the bilge just for launch day.

[StevenBauer]

I had no slings, either. Launched by a boat hauler on a marina ramp then ferried over to the dock. Boy was I happy when I saw that pump shut off.

Steven

[Dan McCosh]

Good question would be how much the boat leaked when launched last year. Launching off a crane is problematic, as the usual routine is to let the lower planks soak for a half day or so, then lowering it in stages.
Hulls vary considerably in how much the shrink, however.

[djn]

Hi Dan, when I launched last year, the had been on the hard from five years and it was well ventalated, so it was dried out. Cheers.

[Dan McCosh]

Hi Dan, when I launched last year, the had been on the hard from five years and it was well ventalated, so it was dried out. Cheers.

In all likelihood, it will be dried out about the same amount next spring--at least in terms of what to expect in the way of water coming in when first launched. While I have been involved in co-op, crane-launched programs several times, I have never attempted to launch our boat with one, mainly due to the issues with getting the hull to swell in the spring. Using lots of compound on any open seam helps, but then you have the stuff in ridges on the hull for the rest of the season. The epoxy you mentioned also may slow the drying somewhat, but a friend also has that on his hull, and it doesn't slow it all that much.