That MIGHT stain. The pool dye will not.That is a great idea. I guess food coloring would work?
No, just a used boat. There is always some maintenance going on.If it is coming from the keel bolt where does it enter the boat. And when u say tear into it do u mean into the keel? I wonder if I have just purchased junk.
If that's where the water is coming from it's easily repairable. You can get a fiberglass patch from any Marine supply. I've also had good results with automotive fiberglass kits available from any hardware or auto-parts store. Google will yield all the instructions you'll ever need.If it is coming from the keel bolt where does it enter the boat. And when u say tear into it do u mean into the keel? I wonder if I have just purchased junk.
As mentioned, a used boat, in fact any used boat, will have some issue(s). There have been many discussions on this forum about busted stuff, and quite a lot of the time the person goes off to acquire some widget to do some thing and misses the whole step of determining exactly what the issue is. The point here is don't run out and buy a repair kit. Find the leak, determine what the issue is, and then (and only then) get a repair strategy together.If it is coming from the keel bolt where does it enter the boat. And when u say tear into it do u mean into the keel? I wonder if I have just purchased junk.
If you're talking about the plug on the top of the ballast tank, right below the ladder, it won't have any effect on leaks anywhere else.Put more adhesive around the floor hatch. Discovered the plug in the ballast tank was not fitting tight. I did not put it in. I found another one on board that fits tight. No more leaking when I checked after a couple of hours. Would loose plug cause water to come in somewhere besides at the plug?? No water around that area of plug just everywhere else.
I disagre. 26's are notorious for the ballast tank leaksWhat you have not said is how much water, and where it is. It's unlikely (although possible) that the ballast tank is leaking. The chain plates take a lot of lateral stress in this design, and if they are not bedded with good quality silicon regularly (maybe every other year) they will leak. Our C model would put 3-4" of water into the bilge, but usually only on one side, serving as a not so gentle reminder that it was time to peel the old silicon off and put new stuff on. It's a 20 minute job - if that's what it is.
Put more adhesive around the floor hatch. Discovered the plug in the ballast tank was not fitting tight. I did not put it in. I found another one on board that fits tight. No more leaking when I checked after a couple of hours. Would loose plug cause water to come in somewhere besides at the plug?? No water around that area of plug just everywhere else.
Well, if there is a leak elswhere, a tight plug would create a vacuum and stop leak from below. Otherwise, no.Put more adhesive around the floor hatch. Discovered the plug in the ballast tank was not fitting tight. I did not put it in. I found another one on board that fits tight. No more leaking when I checked after a couple of hours. Would loose plug cause water to come in somewhere besides at the plug?? No water around that area of plug just everywhere else.
Having owned one for 15 years and being a very active member of the second largest group of owners I can state with some knowledge that I've never heard of a ballast tank leaking.I disagre. 26's are notorious for the ballast tank leaks
I believe I read it on this website when I considered buying one.Having owned one for 15 years and being a very active member of the second largest group of owners I can state with some knowledge that I've never heard of a ballast tank leaking.
seals and hatches notwithstanding, there's very little that could leak unless there's a flaw or damage.
Is there some threads or other detail that you have to back up this claim?
http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/water-ballast-leak.93866/Having owned one for 15 years and being a very active member of the second largest group of owners I can state with some knowledge that I've never heard of a ballast tank leaking.
seals and hatches notwithstanding, there's very little that could leak unless there's a flaw or damage.
Is there some threads or other detail that you have to back up this claim?
Did you actually read the treads that you linked to? They don't seem to support your statement. The two that were coming from the ballast tank were over-loaded and coming from the top plug.http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/water-ballast-leak.93866/
http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/water-ballast-over-filling.131416/
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18917
http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/macgregor-leak.127738/
http://macgregor26x.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=22916
and so on....
That's the best idea I've read. Same thing you do for toilet tank testing. Only we use food coloring.put some party pool die in the tank with the water. If the water inside your boat after is colored, its the tanks
That's true. Macs do get a bad rap and it is totally unfounded.It is somewhat unfortunate that the Mac in general is such an easy target.
I wondered about that too. Fiberglass is more porous the porcelain. Food coloring may work if it's really diluted. You want an obviously "not from around here" color. red? yellow?...no wait...That MIGHT stain. The pool dye will not.