Water in hull due to cracks in cock pit

[wildrp]

I have a 1999 hunter 140. The boat has cracks in the cockpit. Those cracks I been told are cosmetic and nothing to worry about. Recently, when getting the boat ready for winter, I found out that the hull was pretty full of water. It took 1 hour to drain. I believe some of the cracks are through all the way to the hull. I wanted to ask the forum if other people had the same problem and what it the best way to fix it. If is fixable, how much should I expect to cost me?, it is really worth it? any information would be really appreciate it. Thanks

 

[Johnb]

I have a capri dinghy and water was leaking in through the screws that hold the center board gasket to the hull. Took the screws out one by one and then put them back with a dab of epoxy - problem went away. Funny thing, the water went in whilst sailing but not out when on the trailer.

 

[Jackdaw]

Your boat is made out of a material that Hunter experimented with for several year before abandoning. It's called ACP. They built the Hunter 140, 170 and 210 with it. Promoted it like crazy. Sadly the material would develop cracks in the hull after several years and is very hard to repair. The actual cause is a matter of some conjecture. Some blame the resin supplier. In any case it was a REAL cock-up. For several years, the old Hunter corp would offer discounts on new boats to original owners who had this problem. 2nd owners were in more trouble. After Hunter when into bankruptcy and was bought by Marlowe, anyone with a boat is really on their own. Search here or on Google for 'hunter acp hull crack'.

Good Luck!

 

[centerline]

ACP repair manual....

 

[mark2]

Topside cracks in the plastic are unlikely to be the source of the water in the hull unless you take a lot of water topside while sailing. Assuming the 140 is built the same way as the 170, the deck is ACP plastic with a 1-2" layer of foam, and then a layer of fiberglass. The hull is the same. There is an airspace between the deck and hull - a crack in the deck does not "go through" to the bottom of the hull to leak water in. Water in the airspace is more likely coming from fittings or cracks below the waterline. On the 170 the only fittings below the waterline are screws in the centerboard structure and the drain plug - I don't know about the 140.

My suggestion is to check the underside of the hull carefully for any cracks in the ACP layer and repair them as outlined in the manual given in the prior posting. Also examine the area around the centerboard and any screws that go into the hull there. ACP repair of minor cracks are really quite easy and inexpensive.

We found that drying out the interior airspace is not so easy. If it has been wet in there for a while, the fiberglass and foam become saturated and that water does not drain. The 170 has cup holders in the forward area - we removed one of them and placed a small fan over the opening blowing air into the hull. With the drain plug remove it created a good airflow, but still took 2 weeks of continuous fan to dry it out.

If there are no major cracks below the waterline I think you will have no problems repairing that boat and making it water tight.

 

[bigchief]

Did you ever find the source of the water in the hull? My 140 takes on water just by sitting at the dock. I've fixed the cracks in the hull with the plastic epoxy. But I still get large volume of water in the hull. Think it's maybe from the center board trunk seams.

Will try to sail this week and put boat on trailer to see where water leaks out .