I have recently begun taking on water on my 75' MacGregor Venture 22'. I suspect the water is pumping up through the keel pivot bolt area (forward), mostly and some water is getting in through the keel winch cable guide hole too (more aft, more minor). The previous owner of this little fresh water sailboat horribly roughed a hole for electrical from beneath the common seat compartment adjacent the keel pivot bolt area (up high, fortunately), which I suspect to be the culprit, thereby allowing big water into that compartment, accumulating and thereby flooding the rest of the compartments (since more roughed in holes exist in each compartment, adjoining all). This is merely conjecture at this point, but it seems reasonable that this is where I'm breached, in all likelihood.
"How best to seal the very rough hole & wiring coming through the compartment bulkheads..." is the question.
IN any case, I've decided to install a simple auto bilge pump, since none exist currently, along with a simple 1" drain plug on the transom as well. The drain plug at the transom is relatively easy, however MacGregor installed white foam blocks through-out, assuring almost zero access to the drain plug area from inside. So some fun a coming there, oh boy
One more unrelated improvement worthy of interest:
Keel Cable Noise: I did not care for the very loud hum sound produced by the 1/8" SS Keel Cable when the boat traveled at any speed. The noise was highly annoying and became louder as the boat gained speed in the water. Swapping that SS Cable to 3/8s Amsteel or Kevlar reduced the harmonic resonance noise by 90%. Secondary was a very difficult 75 cranks on the original 75, OEM winch mechanism, to extend or retract the 600 lb Keel :-( . For $49, Harbor Freight had the ideal fix: Their smallest wireless remote, 12v winch dropped in and replaced the hand cranker, all too simply (a 2 hour installation, if it took that long). OMG, how perfect, with a wireless key-fob that says "extend" or "retract" on it no less! Absolutely the very best addition I've made to this sailboat! FWIW
Lastly, in regards to locking the Keel down in place: What is the point? I can see how the Keel might be allowed to move around a bit more and certainly knock up, thereby retracting if it strikes somethings or the lake bottom (perhaps a good thing). However, this is a fresh water lake boat only and we will "beach" it on occasion. Locking the Keel down does not make a lot of sense, 95% of the time we're sailing. In addition, I can see how the lock-down 6" Bolt has caused damaged to the Keel Box at some point, perhaps when the boat struck something beneath, previous to my ownership (I'm guessing the owner forgot to retract it when hauling out or something). This may also be a contributing factor to the leaking keel box at this point, I don't know for sure, yet. In any case, why would we bother to actually lock the keel down in place when day-sailing?
Thanks for the feedback my sailor friends
LKL
For
"How best to seal the very rough hole & wiring coming through the compartment bulkheads..." is the question.
IN any case, I've decided to install a simple auto bilge pump, since none exist currently, along with a simple 1" drain plug on the transom as well. The drain plug at the transom is relatively easy, however MacGregor installed white foam blocks through-out, assuring almost zero access to the drain plug area from inside. So some fun a coming there, oh boy
One more unrelated improvement worthy of interest:
Keel Cable Noise: I did not care for the very loud hum sound produced by the 1/8" SS Keel Cable when the boat traveled at any speed. The noise was highly annoying and became louder as the boat gained speed in the water. Swapping that SS Cable to 3/8s Amsteel or Kevlar reduced the harmonic resonance noise by 90%. Secondary was a very difficult 75 cranks on the original 75, OEM winch mechanism, to extend or retract the 600 lb Keel :-( . For $49, Harbor Freight had the ideal fix: Their smallest wireless remote, 12v winch dropped in and replaced the hand cranker, all too simply (a 2 hour installation, if it took that long). OMG, how perfect, with a wireless key-fob that says "extend" or "retract" on it no less! Absolutely the very best addition I've made to this sailboat! FWIW
Lastly, in regards to locking the Keel down in place: What is the point? I can see how the Keel might be allowed to move around a bit more and certainly knock up, thereby retracting if it strikes somethings or the lake bottom (perhaps a good thing). However, this is a fresh water lake boat only and we will "beach" it on occasion. Locking the Keel down does not make a lot of sense, 95% of the time we're sailing. In addition, I can see how the lock-down 6" Bolt has caused damaged to the Keel Box at some point, perhaps when the boat struck something beneath, previous to my ownership (I'm guessing the owner forgot to retract it when hauling out or something). This may also be a contributing factor to the leaking keel box at this point, I don't know for sure, yet. In any case, why would we bother to actually lock the keel down in place when day-sailing?
Thanks for the feedback my sailor friends
LKL
For
