I keep reading about a "bilge" on the 17's, but Audasea doesn't have one. Just a flat extension of the cabin sole back under the cockpit. Would be interesting to see one with a bilge and to hear from Jerry if they built them different back when.
One way to find out where the water gets in is to see where it seeps out. Pull her out and pump the bilge full of water and wait to see where it drips out. My guess is is will be inside the bottom of the CB trunk, where the walls of the trunk meet the edge of the CB slot. I've never heard anyone say, but I think the way it's built is the entire stub keel is layed up in the mold, and after the hull was popped from the mold and the hull turned, the slot was cut, CB trunk installed, ballast installed on both sides of the trunk and then sealed up....either on top of the ballast, leaving a bilge, or well above the ballast, level with the cabin sole, leaving a "dead space" between the top of the ballast and bottom of the now sealed off sole. Over time, the material and joint used to seal up the CB trunk walls and keel stub goes south and the joint gives out, allowing water to seep into the ballast cavity. With the steel or iron ballast, you can get rusting and swelling. With lead, not much happens, except water collects. The fix would be to clean out the crack, dry her out, fill the crack with thickened epoxy and they put a layer of glass tape over it. Sand all that smooth then put some bottom paint over it. Howard M17 #278 Audasea On Oct 19, 2008, at 11:46 AM, Gordon Gilbert wrote: > I was just cleaning out my M-17 for the winter and I was surprised > that the bilge was about three-quarters full of water. A small amount > of water may have run in after spurting through the centerboard > pennant hole (I generally keep it plugged, though), but I doubt that > would have been enough to nearly fill the bilge. Also, the portable > hand pump I had sitting partly in the bilge had a bit of rust-colored > slime on it, suggesting that maybe the water came through the keel. > > I had the boat's keel trunk and centerboard worked on last winter to > relieve a sticking board. When the shop first cut a hole in the keel > to check for rusting ballast, they mistakenly cut partly through to > the bilge on the first try (about a 2.5" diameter hole). Of course > they reglassed everything, but I can still feel the cut round hole at > the very bottom inside of the bilge right where the keel trunk is > walled off. > > My questions are: > > 1. Does anyone else get much water in their bilge? I assume a > completely dry bilge is the norm. I kept my boat on its trailer > during the season, with the exception of a couple four- to five-day > cruises. > > 2. Does anyone have suggestions on how to ensure a dry bilge in this > situation? I suppose I could cover that hole area with a layer of > thickened epoxy, but it's a tough area to access and clean and see > what you're doing. Again, I'm not certain that the water came through > this previously cut area. > > Thanks in advance for any suggestions! > > Gordon > M-17 #377 "Sapphire" > Milwaukee > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
