Leak

[casampson]

Happy New Year, everyone.

I drained about a gallon of somewhat salty water from my keel this year. Does anyone have any ideas as to where the leak might be coming from? Should I be concerned? My boat was in the water from late June until mid-November, btw.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[Bill Goldsmith]

Finding the source of water in the bilge is a perennial issue for all boat owners. If it is really salty then check any and all through hulls for drips. As it is out of the water, you may be able to spot evidence of a drippy through hull by looking for residue around it. It's always a good idea to assess the integrity of through hull installations which includes checking any wood backing plates for rot and drips. Any seacocks or valves should be evaluated as well.

Maybe your last sail of the season was in heavy chop and you took on lots of salty spray that settled in the bilge?

Finally, even if it seems salty, it could be mixed with rain water. I know I take on rain water through my engine compartment ventilator cowls and my anchor rode deck pipe during a hard driving rain. (I've been meaning to get some covers for them but keep forgetting).

[Steve Laume]

I never consider, water in the bilge as a problem. Water in the keel is another matter. This looks like it was identified as a problem by the PO and thus the drain. It really doesn't matter where the water is coming from so much as that it is ending up in the keel. There shouldn't be any means of water entering that space. I doubt it is coming from outside of the boat as there is no reason for any penetrations in the keel area. As long as the glass is solid, with no cracks in the hull, it is coming from inside of the boat. This is far more likely and you will need to access the bilge to locate the problem. This might be the hardest part of the repair. Somewhere down in that black hole there must be a crack that is allowing water to enter the keel area. Once you locate it, and if it is accessible, it should be fairly easy to fix. This will require cleaning and sanding the area and then sealing it with multiple layers of glass tape. You probably want to grind out the crack a bit first and fill that with epoxy before you start to lay glass over the top of it.

The real problem is going to be getting access to fix it, Steve.

[Bill Goldsmith]

I'm a little confused. I may have conflated "water in the keel" with "water in the bilge." I just assumed this was a garboard drain meant to drain the bilge, which is very deep in most Cape Dorys. If this drain is meant to drain water from the encapsulated keel, then certainly Steve is correct that a repair needs to be performed rather than just to drain it occasionally. On the other hand if this is just "water in the bilge" with a low garboard drain, then the discussion above addresses that.

Let us know what you decide to do. Happy New Year!

[bottomscraper]

I'm not that familiar with the CD25 but my guess from the location, that is a garboard drain. When the boat is on the hard, especially in freezing locations it is best to keep that plug out so any accumulated water can drain (and not freeze). It is also handy because it makes it easy to hose your bilge out and cut down on funky boat odors. If it is a garboard drain you should be able to look into the bilge and see light coming in with the plug removed.

[Jerry Hammernik]

If that isn't from the bilge (and it looks like it may be too low for the bilge) then it is probably from the void space behind the ballast. My 25 and my current 28 both had this void space. It is apparently just the way Cape Dory built them. Water condenses in there and accumulates over time. On both my boats we opened the area up and filled it with epoxy. The 25 I had done by a boatyard and the 28 I did myself.

Side note. On the 25 the boatyard handed me the plug that they took out of the hull to access the area, and said "that thing is built like a battleship"!

[jbenagh]

My CD25 had about a six inch space behind the lead that went to the glass on the bottom. It was basically the bilge and I put the bilge pump down there. My CD30 has a similar thing but different proportions and size.
If you tap with a handle of a hammer or large screwdriver you can tell where the open parts are.
It might help us if you could take a picture panned out slightly so we can see where the hole is relative to the aft end of the keel. If it's close to there I think you have a stump like im talking about.
Jeff

[casampson]

Thanks for the replies. I really don't know what this drain plug is for, and I appreciate your thoughts. I guess my strategy will be to see how much water comes out of it at the end of next season, and to see if it is salt, fresh, or a combination. If it is stable at a gallon or less, I probably won't worry about it. If it increases, then I'll be forced to do something.

Here is a picture of the plug from a wider angle:

[JD-MDR]

I bet its just a bilge drain for rain water when hauled out

[Steve Laume]

That just seems like it should be all encapsulated lead in that area. Water, from any source, should not be getting in there, Steve.

[JD-MDR]

I don't know nothing. I just thought they might have run some piping . I had a commercial boat that I stored in the yard every winter and it had a 1-1/2" plug to pull just for rainwater. Funny that plug never came out accidentally when we were in the water. It was just a wooden peg through a plank in the bottom

[casampson]

It's a mystery. Here's a drawing that might explain what is down there. It looks like there might be open space where the plug is. Or is that where the lead is? I don't know. One question I keep asking myself is that, if there was a leak into the keel, how did they ever find out?

[Frenchy]

It would be interesting to feed one of those small inspection cameras attached to a cell phone into that area to
see exactly what it is. It seems like you can either leave it the way it is and drain every year or open the area
up from the outside, (like Jerry did) fill with epoxy or something similar and close it back up again. Good luck - Jean

[hinmo]

I have a CD25 also. I installed a garboard in the keel nearer the rudder. It gets about a gal every year. Not a worry in my mind..

[tartansailor]

Renaissance had a persistent leak that caused no end of frustration to determine it's source.
It was only after caulking the seam between the deck and the rub rail top side did it end.
It was not sluth on my part, but a Hail Mary trial and error guess.
Hope that helps.
BTW, you really need to seal the bottom of your keel.