Hi, I just purchased a 1977 Oday23 and found some water in the bilge. Just wondered if there are any thru hulls on the boat. Hopefully the pop top is the problem.
I will appreciate any help
Thanks, Don
I just uncovered my boat yesterday and remembered that I had a leak last year that was coming from the somewhere on the forward deck. I discovered it when I went to remove a pull over sweatshirt that I had tucked away in the bow of my boat in the V birth and it was soaking wet. I took a hose yesterday and ran it over the forward deck and sure enough, water started leaking in from the thin Teak cap rail on the deck. The first screw in the cap rail was missing the Teak bung and I could see a little day light under that portion of the cap rail. Luckily I was able to remove that screw and pry up on the rail with a screw driver just enough to insert a little 3-M 5200 under it with a Popsicle stick. I countersunk the screw hole a little deeper with a drill bit, replaced the wood screw and glued a new 3/8" Teak bung in place. Tomorrow I'll cut the bung down a little and sand it flush with the top of the cap rail. I also noticed that one of the wires to my bow light was broken at the crimp connector and I'll have to fix that tomorrow as well. These boats shouldn't leak at all.
It's important to try to find these leaks as soon as possible because if left unattended, they can cause delamination and core rot. If I didn't reach for that jacket, I would have never known that I had a leak.
Years ago, I read in one of my boat books that stains in the fiberglass can be removed with common household cleansers that contain Oxalic Acid, so I tried it. It worked great, but it ate the caulking out from underneath the gunwale molding and my boat had leaks up the ying yang!
I had to remove all the molding, clean the area under it, and re-caulk the whole thing. Live and learn. Actually, the caulking under the gunwale is only good for about 10 to 12 years.
