leaking gp14

No1_Moose

No1_Moose

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I have an old gp14 (6110) that I am doing up. It is leaking quite badly along along both sides of the keel. What is the best method of stopping the leak? I was thinking of just running a line of sikaflex along the leak or perhaps some epoxy.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
I had an old boat with leaky box.I blocked off the bottom and filled the box half full with a wood sealer and left it a good while,never leaked afterwards and prorected the wood always difficult on the inside.
 
The trouble with old plywood boats is that the ply can become quite brittle, thus any impact can cause a hole, whereas new ply would just flex. I had an old mirror that was going this way and eventually skinned the interior with GRP to provide some strength. - and soaked the outside with epoxy seemed to do the trick. Boat was a tad heavy afterward!
 
Is this a leak from the centreboard case or a leak from elsewhere along the keel/hog?

The latter is rare, but leaks from the centreboard case are just about universal in old dinghies. The reason is that the centrecase gets a lot of load on it when under way and it eventually waggles itself a bit loose.

We have a 1960's Firefly (F3000) with this problem - at the moment it's containable with a bit of bailing, but I know I'm going to have to deal with it soon. In the Firefly's case, Uffa Fox did the boat no favours by leaving the forward end of the centrecase with no lateral support, so I've added some. I can't remember what the forward end of a GP centrecase looks like, but I fancy it is similar.

The only way to do a "proper job" is to take the centrecase out entirely, and re-bed it to the hog. This not being a small undertaking, various lashups can be done including filling the box with something that will leak through and harden, and one very good one (if you are near a traditional boatyard and have the use of their tools - the grease gun full of white lead and grease trick, which involves drilling a small hole near the leak, screwing a grease nipple made out of a bored-out woodscrew into the hole, and injecting white lead paste and grease (say, 80:20) into the hole until it comes out somewhere else, then repeating every few inches. This works really well, if you can organise it, but you will need an Old School boatbuilder!

Failing which, running thin epoxy in (turn her over and run some duct tape around the slot first, then turn her back and run epoxy in) will do some good.
 
That is good news.

Can you (very cautiously!) get the screws out? If so, you may be able to refasten and re-glue the bottom panels.
 
If you can't get the screws out, try stripping the keel and panels adjoining and if there is a gap rake it out. Even cut a chamfer in the panel alongside the keel with a new chisel or stanley knife and run epoxy into the groove. You need to dry the edges of the wood for a week or two first. The epoxy should not only form a fillet but also run into the wood grain. If it also comes through to the inside you've probably nailed the leak.
Use a slow epoxy and heat the working area to above 15 degrees C
 
[ QUOTE ]
That is good news.


[/ QUOTE ]

Ummm - is it? It depends why the joint has opened up. If - as is quite likely - the glue line has failed, then it is fairly straightforward to open it up enough to clean it up and re glue it, preferably with Balcotan polyurethane glue which copes well with slightly damp timber. If the timber is damaged though, it may need a gap filling glue - epoxy or similar, but it must be completely dried out first or the epoxy will not stick. The not so good news is that if this joint has failed - what state are the rest in? Probably a case of crossing those bridges as they come....

If on the other hand the joint has failed because water has penetrated the end grains of the ply panel and rotted it - very likely if it has stood with rain water in it for any length of time - then no amount of re-gluing will put things right, without cutting back to sound timber and replacing it.

Whatever you do, you need to ensure the end grains of the ply sheet are protected to prevent premature failure. If the timber is sound, then sealing it all up with Sikaflex once it is securely refastened would help considerably, but make sure you leave no voids in the joint where water could collect and stand - that would create ideal conditions for rot to set in!
 
thanks for all the advice, I'm going to try and attack it today. I fear the worst because it was stored outside and uncovered for some time.

ps. this is not a lakesailor manoeuvre, I'm thanking everybody :-)
 
lakesailoring avoided

I think you can get away with that.

But in fact, you replied/thanked after the last post and hence there is a risk of tacit lakesailoring - it was that final post that triggered your thankyou, and not any others, see?

Better way to thank everyone is to reply to your own original post with heading "thanks everyone" i think.

hope this helps
 
Lakesailoring still a possibility

ah but you don't know it was the last post that triggered my thank you. I didn't reply to the last post. I replied to LS because I knew that would add an air of confusion to the inevitable was it/wasn't it a lakesailor debate. You've got to be careful with your blanket thank you idea though because jimi might have replied and it's just not very nice to put "thanks everyone (except jimi)" in the subject line. Likewise my ownership of a flipping wooden colander might not be IMO 'good news'.
 
Re: Lakesailoring still a possibility

I would suggest that is impossible to upset Jimi and anyway he is off being a TV star.
I reckon I deserve the Reverse Lakesailoring anyway as I had essentially answered the question in the first place.
(or would that be a straightforward acknowledgement rather than the rather esoteric Reverse Lakesailor?)
 
no lakesailoring to occur here

Well, I managed to get the screws out and i've put epoxy in just about every place I can get it, inside and out. The panels were in good condition so I'm hopeful that it is fixed.

Anybody want to buy a GP14 in about 2mths when I've finished it :-)
 
LakeRegs: Reverse Lakesailoring and Lakesailoring by Proxy

Jeez, considering it carries your name you are staggeringly unfamiliar with the detail. I bet Colin Regan knows all the ColRegs.

Anyway, yes - as you suggest, Lakesailoring itself is a "reverse" action and there is at present no such thing as a "Reverse Lakesailoring" - it was a simple lakesailoring here, almost a Complete Lakesailoring but for the careful avoidance of same by small moose.

Lakesailoring by Proxy, however, IS a possible - a question posed, and answer given and the same answer given a second time and then a fourth poster (rather than the ORIGINAL poster) says ooh that's a good point thank you and takes it up from there, with the first poster with the correct answer ignored as with a Complete Lakesailoring.

So, to avoid confusion, LakeRegs are

rule 1 Giving the duplicate answer is Lakesailoring,

rule 2 When that duplicate is thanked by the origninal poster it's a Full (or Complete) Lakesailoring

rule 2a lakesailoring is a transitive verb: it's the first one with the correct answer who gets Lakesailored, and the second with the same answer who does the lakesailoring to the first responder. In thanking the second or subsequnet poster the originator Completes the Lakesailoring manouevre.

rule 3 When thanked by a fourth poster it is a Full Lakesailoring By Proxy. This isn't quite as good as Full Lakesailoring as it could be done on purpose.

rule 4 Lakesailoring on pupose is known Rogue Lakesailoring.

rule 5 There might be some more rules
 
Re: no lakesailoring to occur here

I had a wooden GP14 onc. Water got into the hog despite it being epoxied and it was basically a write off. I'd get someone that knows what hee's doing to have a look to see if its worth it before bodging a sort. FWIW I'd never touch a wooden boat again!

No need to thank me lad, but those that are taking my name in vain have been noted in my wee black book and retaliation will be forthcoming.
 
Re: LakeRegs: Reverse Lakesailoring and Lakesailoring by Proxy

Well thanks for that. However I think you have missed "Lakesailored with Colmce Variation" out.
Isn't it about time we had a static board on the forums with these rules displayed?
 
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