leaking sail boat

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swanie

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22' Oday keelboat.

I have a slow seeping leak in the cabin deck. There is a rectangular (5"x5') crack round where the keel attaches to the deck and the water is coming in the crack.

Since it appears to be above where the keel attaches to the boat, I felt that filling the crack may be covering up a bigger problem.

The boat is still currently on the water so haven't looked underneath. I will be removing it for painting soon.

Any advice or tips appreciated.
 
If I understand it correctly it sounds like a structural problem with the keel/hull join. Check for keel movement once the boat is out of the water - if there is such movement then you'll need some grinding back/cutting out and some added transverse struts a la Centaur I would think.
 
Bit confused by this. Do you really mean where the keel meets the deck or where it is attached to the hull?

I don't know the boat but looked at photos on google and assume the latter. If so you really need to clean up the ares, both outside and in and find the crack and deal with it properly
 
I think you should be lifting the boat out sooner than soon. If you are on a tidal mooring then it will only get worse. Filling the crack won't be sufficient.

If you put your location into your profile others may be able to suggest suitable people to fix it.
 
davidej said:
Bit confused by this. Do you really mean where the keel meets the deck or where it is attached to the hull?
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The boat is still in the water so I haven't seen underneath where the keel joins the hull.

Inside, the cabin deck has an indentation in it about half an inch deep, 5inches wide and about 5 feet long. In the center. I assume that if I were to dig/grind/scrape into the deck in this indentation, I would gain access to the keel bolts (assuming that is how the iron keel is fixed to the hull).

Anyway, the crack is all round the rim of the indentation. Hope that makes it clearer.
 
swanie said:
The boat is still in the water so I haven't seen underneath where the keel joins the hull.

Inside, the cabin deck has an indentation in it about half an inch deep, 5inches wide and about 5 feet long. In the center. I assume that if I were to dig/grind/scrape into the deck in this indentation, I would gain access to the keel bolts (assuming that is how the iron keel is fixed to the hull).

Anyway, the crack is all round the rim of the indentation. Hope that makes it clearer.
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What I have found with a bit of Googling states that the O'Day 22 has a keel with internal lead ballast! If so no keel bolts

However I agree with the suggestions that you should haul the boat out sooner rather than later.

I think this is going to need a significant repair although i hope for your sake that I'm wrong.

If you are not experienced with glass and resin work a professional repair may be advisable.

Inspection by a surveyor may well be a sensible move too
 
ok, thanks.

Can you tell me how the keel is likely to be fixed to the hull then. I would like to get an idea if this is something I could do myself.

The boat had a survey done when I bought it 18 months ago. No problems but there was always a tiny bit of water in the indentation in the center of the cabin deck. Not having owned a sail boat before, I had assumed that this was due to condensation gathering in the lowest part of the boat.

Lately this (and the condensation) has become a bit worse so I took the time to confirm that the water was coming from the crack.
 
swanie said:
ok, thanks.

Can you tell me how the keel is likely to be fixed to the hull then. I would like to get an idea if this is something I could do myself.

The boat had a survey done when I bought it 18 months ago. No problems but there was always a tiny bit of water in the indentation in the center of the cabin deck. Not having owned a sail boat before, I had assumed that this was due to condensation gathering in the lowest part of the boat.

Lately this (and the condensation) has become a bit worse so I took the time to confirm that the water was coming from the crack.
Click to expand...


If the info is correct, see http://www.gjenvick.com/BangorPunta/ODay/1973-Catalog-ODay22.html#axzz2ES9Y8S35 then Id imagine that the keel is a hollow moulding incorporated into the hull when that is made. The lead ballast is presumably added later, Id guess that any space remaining could be filled with and expanding foam and then the top glassed over.

But somebody on here must own one and know more about it.
 
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If it's a cast iron keel then it will be with studs through the keel, fixed in those indentations.

VicS believes that the boat has hollow keels formed in glass and an integral part of the keel and filled with lead for the weight, and then glassed in. In which case there are no keel bolts. This seems to be your case.

Did your surveyor not comment on the water in the indentation? Taste it. Salty = sea water, not salty = condensation (though could be slightly salty).

Either way it would be sensible policy to get the boat out of the water as soon as possible. Either way it can be repaired and shouldn't be too much. Seen similar on a couple of boats.
 
Swanie,
Sorry to hear of your troubles :( As an almost neighbour of yours I remember admiring your boat while she was for sale and even tried to encourage a friend to make an offer on her. She looked like a good little boat (still does in fact!) and I hope you are able to sort this out without too many complications. I would reinforce the advice already given though - get her out of the water ASAP if you can.
I wonder if she has suffered a grounding / knock to the keel sometime?
 
If the O'Day 22 is of similar construction to the O'day/Proctor Wildfire dinghy the keel is completely removable from within the boat after taking out the 5 or more bags of lead shot that are the ballast. The shell of the keel is then easily removed, being buoyant and tapered to seal the slot.


ianat182
 
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