Replacing water ballast valve gasket on H260

[yadayada]

Has anyone ever replaced the round rubber gasket on the water-ballast valve plate on the bottom of the hull on a H260??

By the looks of the drawing in the Owners Manual it looks pretty simple. Just remove the large wing nut inside the boat and drop the whole thing out the bottom. Hardest part getting the clearance to be able to drop it past the keel tray on the trailer.

Am I overlooking anything??

 

[Bob 04 H260]

I did this job on my previous boat that had almost the same setup as the 260 has. I made my own gasket using a mouse pad. It worked very well for a number of years and was still functioning when it was sold. I don't know if you have the gasket yet but if not something to consider.
I tied a line to the threaded shaft inside the cabin on mine so when it dropped out I could reinstall it myself.
I have not done this on my 260 so don't know if any of this helps.
good luck, Bob

 

[yadayada]

Did you glue the mouse pad to the plate or ??

 

[George H260]

This is an old issue covered in this archive article:

http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=169859

Crazy Dave's comment about not splitting the disc makes sense to me. (I never question anything Dave says anyway).

Re the venturi effect. This works on power boats but I'm not sure it applies here. Water in the tank should always seek its own level and not drop below the level of the surrounding water.

I'm going to test the venturi effect notion next summer to see how valid this concept is because it is not consistent with my own experience. I've sailed several hours with the valve open and when I remembered to close it the tank was full.

I'm pretty sure there is not sufficient clearance to completely drop the valve. It is easy to remove the three bolts on the bottom bunk and slide it back so you can drop the valve out. It will take a couple of people to put the valve back in. (Or try Bob's trick)

Any waterproff sealant such as 3M5200 and a neoprene gasket should fix the issue. (Some have used an old wetsuit)

 

[yadayada]

Thanks for the link George, lots of good info. I agree with the idea that if heeling for a while that water will migrate out of the tank to a certain extent and could be more tender until water flows back in. Makes sense to me. Hunters design team probably were thinking the same thing, hense the rubber gasket.

The gasket on my boat is folded back in one spot and "crinkled" most of the way around. The rubber has gotten to the point of not being very pliable.

I can see where the keel touches the tray as the boat comes on the trailer and see no reason why I couldn't just shorten that tray so the valve will just drop down past it anyway. The tray will still be a good 12" behind where the keel first touches it when the boat is loaded on the trailer.

 

[George H260]

Interesting idea about shortening the bottom bunk. I have a friend who removed the bottom bunk entirely and replaced it with a solid cross bar to support the centerboard. This works well for him and makes it easier to get under the boat for maintenance on the centerboard and hull.

 

[yadayada]

I shortened the bunk and tied a string through the long threaded rod and then just dropped it down to the ground. After scaping off the old rubber I replaced it with 1/8" rubber from OSH hardware store and slipped it back up into place. Then I tightened the wing nut and added water to the ballast tank through the vent and the valve leaked like a sieve.

First I thought the new rubber was just too hard and not sealing because the surface wasn't flat, so I removed the valve and sanded the area as smooth as I thought it would need be.

Still leaked.

I went to Office Depot and bought a mouse pad (softer rubber) and with contact cement I added it to rubber I had just put on.

Still leaks.

Now I have cut out a piece of wood 6" in diameter and added a threaded rod to the center and am going to put a piece of sand paper on the upper side and slide that device into place and try to sand the area smooth and level.

Tomorrow.

 

[George H260]

My guess is that no matter what you do you'll fail to get an airtight (or watertight) seal. When the boat is in the water there will be tremendous and constant pressure on the seal.
In my mind there is no need to worry about a little leakage.

 

[yadayada]

I think you're right. Using my sanding device I found that the center of the area was a little high and so was the area aft of center of the area. So it wasn't seating evenly. I sanded quite a bit and got it pretty level.

Now it just drips slowly and I think that will be fine. I think that before I started this fix that it probably really leaked badly and even so the boat sailed and handled just fine.

With the tank full and the vent plug in place there will probably be very little water transfering in or out.

Tomorrow I'll make a trip to West Marine and get some bottom paint to touch up the area then I'm calling it good.