Hi, Thank you for the analysis. My leak is not as serious as yours was, as every 24 hrs or so I have been able to sponge out about 2 litres of water from the 'hole'.When I took the boat out in the fall, water appeared to be dripping around the centre board through the trunk making me suspect that the water is getting in via what I call the' hole' behind the trunk.I think that before launching I will try putting some sealant foam around the seams in the' hole'. Once set I will fill the 'hole' with water and see if it leaks out of the trunk around the centre board.If that fails I will try your ingenious pressure method. Thank you again. RTH. -----Original Message----- From: Conbert Benneck Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 12:03 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: montgomery_boats Digest, Vol 103, Issue 6 Hi Robert, Here is my original analysis and what I did. Hi John, Connie here.... It sounds as if you have the same kind of problem that I did on our M15. After a brisk sail across Lake Champlain and back to the Essex, NY marina, I found both lockers under the mattresses with about a gallon of water on each side. At the dock my wife careened the boat, and I found water merrily flowing into the lockers on each side, through gaps in the inside liner. The next question was: where is the water coming in? To make a long search operation description short, it turned out to be coming from the aft end of the centerboard trunk slot, at a joint between the centerboard trunk and the interior liner of the boat M15). I found it the hard way, by filling the inside of the boat with water and waiting for it to drip underneath to see where the leak was. Once it started dripping, I found the leak was in the centerboard trunk. The next question was; exactly where in that area was the leak? To pinpoint the exact location of the leak I made Styrofoam hatch boards; sealed all companionway joints, and sail locker lid joints with duct tape; fired up my big shop vac on "blow"; put the hose nozzle in a hole I cut in the Styrofoam, and pressurized the interior of the boat. Then I painted every area in the centerboard slot with copious amounts of bubble solution, and watched for the location of where the bubbles would originate. When I found the location - the aft corner of the centerboard truck / cabin liner joint. I then removed the teak board in front of the cabin entrance (drill out the center of the teak plugs and break out the pieces - new teak plugs are available at WEST Marine) That allowed me to do some surgical removal of the back end of the centerboard slot (pieces were reinstalled after the repair) in order to gain access to the leak area. I then ground out material at the joint where the leak occurred, using a DREML tool. This area was then sealed using thickened epoxy. My repair solved the problem: no more leaks: dry lockers at any angle of heel or amount of burping water through the C/B slot because of excessive speed. Good luck on your search; and the pressurized interior and bubble liquid is a lot easier solution as a search tool than the fill-it-with-water method I initially used. Connie ex M15 #400 LEPPO Chris Smith wrote:
Fantastic! I'm hoping to do much the same thing to my M15 this summer. How difficult was it to get the centerboard out?
From looking at your pictures I see you went to Isle Royale! Where did you put in? I am planning a ~1 week trip this summer, and am currently trying to decide if that is enough time to put in at the Apostle Islands and make the crossing to Tettegouche, then up to Isle Royale. I'd like to get a little open water time - remind me of ocean sailing (albeit on much bigger boats...).
Also, the toe rails and other woodwork looks great on your boat! Did you refinish it? I've gotten some conflicting opinions on the proper way to refinish teak - I guess this question is up for everyone: what is the best way? Sand/stain/poly? teak restorer stuff?
Thanks!
Chris M15 Persephone
On Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 9:12 PM, John and DesAnne Hippe <jdhippe@gmail.com>wrote:
Hello All,
I have begun a little refit of my M-15. Today I jacked the boat up and set it upon a temporary support of 6X6" on cynder blocks. Then I took out the centerboard so that it can be repaired and faired. I will also be repairing the keel as it has struck rocks a few times (oops). I have a leak that I hope to stop. The leak seaps into the lockers in the cabin which renders them unusable for anything that requires a dry space. During this time I will also sand off the antifouling paint and repaint with something a bit more pleasing to the eye. Lastly I hope get the trailer repainted as it has become quite rusty.
I have posted pictures of the refit so far at h ttp://picasaweb.google.com/JDHippe <http://picasaweb.google.com/JDHippe>.
John M-15 Jester _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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_______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet! On 04-Jan-12 6:29 PM, Robert Hall wrote:
Hi Stan, I have a 30 year old M 15 and get water in the"hole" just behind the trunk. I cannot see in there and have no idea where the water is coming from . May I ask you to describe in detail where you found the source of the leak and also how you fixed it? Thanks .RTH.-----Original Message----- From: Stan Winarski Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 9:55 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: M_Boats: montgomery_boats Digest, Vol 103, Issue 6
I too have experienced a recurring leak in the joinng of the centerboard trunk with the cockpit mold on my M 15. It is a difficullt place to work and even the patches of fiberglass I've installed were hardly esthetically attractive but they did the trick. Any chop encountered resulted in leaking water into my two "dry stores" drawers I installed on either side of the trunk.
Stan Carol II, M-15 #177 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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