Spindrift 17' Day Sailor 1 - drain leaking (newbie)

[bnnauti]

New to sailing - put boat in water first time and found mid-hull drain mechanism leaking. Cans someone adivse me on how to minimize this leakage. The mechanism opens like a scoop facing aft and pulls back up with a locking handle. It all looks in tact from the bottom and from inside, but it evidently doesn't fully seal whenc latched up?

Also, I need help understanding the swing keel. It seems to drop on it's own and the lever only serves to lock in down and keep it from swinging up. Is this proper? That the swing keel is free to float down (or up) anytime the lever is up?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Syntonos]

DINGY STUFF Self Bailer leaking, centerboards

Hello, Don't know how you ended up on the Yamaha page, your post may get more specific responses on the trailer sailors forum...... That said,

SELF BAILER--What you have leaking is a cockpit self bailer. It is intended to SUCK the water that gets in the cockpit out of the boat while moving forward at speed. It should have a rubber gasket. You may need to replace it. Another trick is to coat the gasket with petroleum jelly (vaseline) to help seal it. They will always weep. Buy yourself some sailing booties. Your feet will thank you. Go to The APS (Annapolis Performance Sailing) web site, the'll have your stuff.

CENTERBOARD -- Sounds like you have an un-weighted centerboard on your boat. I'd assume it needs to be locked down. You only raise the centerboard while sailing downwind. and ONLY if you are comfortable with the rolly nature of the boat when doing so...It's a speed thing.

Depending on your location hit up the Used book stores for books on Dingy Sailing - Also check out sailing hardware catalogs- they quite often have useful information explaining boat stuff ( West Marine, Harken come to mind).

Enjoy your adventures -- It can be the ride of a lifetime.

 

[bnnauti]

opps sorry -wrong forum

Thanks for the help. All makes more sense to me.