leaks

[EASLOOP]

I have finally launched my wooden sloop. She sits in a mud berth going up and down with the tide. Once she has taken-up how much water in the bilge is acceptable? and how long should it take to take-up (given that it she is in the water only from about 2/3 high tide and back again each day)
Look forward to replies

rgds
John

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[Mirelle]

How much? - Once she has taken up - almost none. Not quite none, because you will have a stern tube drip, probably. But you should be able to dust the bilges forward of the sump.

How long? - depends on how dry she was, how extensively re-caulked, and how many bits you missed, really. It can be something silly, like one bolt without enough caulking round the head, or one stopwater a bit loose, that causes a steady trickle for two or three weeks. But it will nearly always take up in the end.



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[Casey]

My Oakleaf (Mahogany over Oak 1967 clinker built) leaks a little through the hull but not enough to keep an automatic pump switched on. The main source of leaks is through the deck and they are a pig to find but I will, as soon as good weather and my time coincide, paint the cabin top. There are a few places there that I am suspicious of which I will fill before using Blakes deck paint.

The first year I had her she made about an inch of water a day but I had all of the paint beneath the water line blasted off and I repainted the hull following the Blakes system. I have only made a little water since. I suspect that old paint and muck in the lands would not allow the clinker planks to take up properly.



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[EASLOOP]

Thanks for your replies. Otty Bird had been ashore for 10 years while I worked on her steadily. I guess she will probably take all of the three weeks to take up.
I re-caulked every seam with cotton and backed it up with red lead/white lead putty.
It has been a thrill to see her afloat again so I am probably a bit paranoid about leaks.
I'll keep all informed.
regards
John

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[trouville]

i hope you dident overdo to cotten,if you did itll break your frames! I once left a boat out to long and during summer, i could see through the planks! i spent 2 days spraying the hull, then as i was craned in i put saw dust on the water, i still needed a good pump for a couple of days, but the saw dust made it very managable, by the end of the week she was tight,bar a few damp seams which dried in the end two.

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[tim3057]

What was the sawdust for?

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[tillergirl]

The theory is that if you put that around a vessel that is taking up (ie leaking) the sawdust accompanies the water leaking into the hull, binds itself in the gaps and helps stop the gap and assist the taking up. Don't laugh; It is/was used as a serious practice.

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[tillergirl]

After the last time ashore in the winter, TG leaked for about 12 hours before taking up. During the first hour, the rate was such that you would not have wished to leave the boat for a prolonged period but after two hours the rate slowed that I didn't have to pump for 12 hours. There remained for the whole of the season a persistent little dribble that I resigned myself to tackle the next spring but when I laid up the baot afloat in November, the dribble stopped and has never - no I won't tempt fate!

I am ashamed to say that there is always a bead of moisture in my bilge! and she will take a drop from the prop shaft (but I don't like tightning up the stuffing box too much) and if I work her hard to windward for a while. It's never much and frankly I could leave it alone for a couple of months. Be prepared for a night on board after launching to be on the safe side

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[hwkeene]

We have a boat like yours, out for 4 years and we are thinking to take all the old antifoul off, aluminium oxide it, then primer and two coats of antifoul and put her in the water on a mud pontoon. Will this take up as well as yours?
regards harry. ( my e mail is hwkeene@tesco.net)

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