Sea water entering bilge

[Charles]

My 1979 Catalina 25 constantly remains in a wet slip, and water (slight amount) is entering the bilge from the extreme forward end. The keel is a fin, bolt on and made of iron. There are six bolts that afix the keel to the hull keel stub or bildge area, draft is four feet. The boat has what is called the "Catalina Smile", which is about a six inch crack at the keel forward edge where the top of the keel and the hull keel stub meet. I race this boat and sometimes apply considerable backstay tension which I am sure exacerbated the said crack. Accessing the keel bolts on this boat is extremely difficult due to the dinette or booth seating interior arrangement. It is very difficult to pin-point where the water is entering as all keel bolt protruding threaded studs, washers, and nuts are epoxy encapulated and appear quite intact. Any suggestions/advice will be appreciated. My e-mail is cat251488@juno.com.

 

[Don]

Catalina 25 Advice

I, too own a C25 fin keel, but I do not have the Catalina smile. This exact topic was recently discussed at the Sailor's Forum at the Catalina 25/250 National Association website. Click on the related link to get to that discussion. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask at the C25 forum, because it is a very active forum with lots of knowledge.

 

[LaDonna Bubak - CatalinaOwners.com]

Salt water

There is one thing that you know for certain: The water that's coming in is below the waterline. Through the process of elimination, you should be able to come to a reasonable conclusion as to where the water is coming from. Any thru-hulls leaking? If not, that narrows the possibilities down quite a bit. Can you empty & clean out the bilge to determine where the water's coming from? If it's seeping from anywhere else but the keel bolts, then the probability is your "Smile" is the culprit. If this is the case, you should really address this during your next haulout. It might be as simple as squirting 5200 in the crack & tightening up the bolts (check with Catalina for the torque specs). Good luck!LaDonna