lark sailing dinghy takes on water very fast

[jez33]

hi guys.
well i took my lark out for the 1st time today ever ( thanks for your input from last posts btw an one who helped me)

i launched the boat any how and with one person the boat was alarmingly full of water.
i managed to sail briefly but didn't feel happy with going for more then a few minutes.just the water level wasnt going down.

so questions are as follows:
on the lark are the 2 rectangle holes on the stern supposed to be open or should there have some type of reed (one way water valve) to only allow water out and not in the boat? or is the only way to get water out the boat to get some speed up to get the boat to plane higher?

also on the buoyancy tanks do they need bungs in the plug holes or are they also ment to be open to allow water to drain out when the bailers have done there job?

 

[sarabande]

the buoyancy tanks need bungs, otherwise if you tip over then water will get into the tanks and that makes them into NON-buoyancy tanks.

Usually at the stern the drainage holes have a light transparent plastic window, held against the transom on the outside by shock cord secured in the inside, to prevent water getting in when you are going slowly.

As soon as you are going fast, you can see the waterline go below the level of the "windows", then release the shock cord, and water wooshes out of the back.

Jave a look at other dinghies to see the engineering details.

Are there any Elvstrom trap door bailers in the bilges ? If they are down, at slow speed they can let water in, too.

 

[jez33]

hi.
ok so ill rig up a transparent reed to do the same job as the plastic window.
yer regarding the bung i made 2 bungs up by hand and pluged them in.
yer it has self bailer but cannt say yet how fast the water comes in through the if they do leek too..
thanks for your help.
funny even though the boat had loads of water in it the boat still sailed quite well with hardly a briez pushing it..

 

[maxi77]

If water is coming in through the transom flaps then you are sitting too faat aft. In most dinghies and I suspect the lark is not different in most conditions the transom should be out of the water. The self bailer will only work when the boat is planing or very close to planing so should be shut unles you are a going quite fast and b have water in the boat you need to get out.

The reason for the holes in the transom are to get rid of large quantities of water after a capsize. Quite often rather than hinged flaps people just tape plastic over the holes which can easily be pushed out after a capsize. Like the self bailer transom flaps don't work particularly well unless you can get some speed up.

 

[Abestea]

From my experience of Larks. The two holes on the transom are absolutely useless and are the biggest liabilities. I made some blanking plates to help and they made a huge difference. They could also be easily removed to drain out water when required.

Self bailers are the best for clearing the boat when it is going at speed. At slow speeds we just used a bailer or two to shift the water but this usually only happened after a capsize or the self bailers leaked badly.

Be careful about your home made plugs. water can easily get into the tanks and make life more difficult. Especially when bringing the boat out of the water.

Good boats to sail though.