Wondering if anyone can offer some help:
My father-in-law has a 1978 O'day 25, and this will be our second season in the water with this boat.
Last year we were renovating the boat, and he was using a power washer on the deck, and ended up flooding the cockpit, etc. Shortly thereafter we noticed some water weeping out of the bottom of the keel. He drilled a couple holes in the bottom of the keel to help the water drain out, and it dried up in a couple weeks. There was also a crack in the port side of the keel near the back that he patched with fiberglass tape and epoxy. We sailed the entire season without incident, but we did notice we would get a bit of water in the bilge if there was a rain, so we figure we have some sort of deck leak.
The boat was stored on a cradle for the winter up here in Rochester, NY, and unfortunately there were heavy rains within a couple weeks of the first snow. When we went to take the mast down for storage we noticed a lot of water in the bilge, but it was already frozen. Our bad. . .
Fast forward to present day. Things are thawed out here in Rochester, we've drained the bilge (still get a bit of water after a rain) but the patch on the keel has cracked open again, and is weeping a lot of water. It seems clear that we have some sort of leak where water is getting down into the keel. We are taking the following steps:
1. Replacing the rub rail. The RR was pretty trashed in spots, flat out open in others. We figure it's not an expensive job, and should help matters. This project is in progress
2. Reseal the bilge. There appears to be at least one pinhole in the side of the bilge wall, and I'm wondering if water in the bilge has been leaking down into the keel from there and saturating the area.
3. Caulk/re-bed deck wood trim. I re-finished all the brightwork last year with Cetol marine, and noticed that the previous owner had caulked around all the wood on the toe-rail and hand-rail, etc. It was black very hard/brittle, and completely pulled away from the wood, so it wasn't doing anything anymore.l I did not re-caulk, or pull the hardware and re-bed. Wondering if I should do that now.
4. We will drill another hole(s) in the bottom of the keel to allow the water to drain out. We also sanded and repainted the bottom last year with Interlux 2000E and VC-17. The entire bottom looks completely pristine after last season's sailing except this one place where the previous patch has split and the water is leaking out. There are no blisters anywhere. . .
Chainplates look OK, stanchions look OK. We had some leaking around the vent on the foredeck, so we'll be recaulking that. All of that water would appear to have been caught by a well placed bucket, though. . .
Any other ideas, or experience with the O'day 25 and water getting down into the keel? I've done some searches, but haven't been able to come up with anything that sounds like our problem. This boat was bone dry from sailing, the only time we ended up with water in the bilge was after a rain.
Thanks!
Wes Nance
Rochester, NY
My father-in-law has a 1978 O'day 25, and this will be our second season in the water with this boat.
Last year we were renovating the boat, and he was using a power washer on the deck, and ended up flooding the cockpit, etc. Shortly thereafter we noticed some water weeping out of the bottom of the keel. He drilled a couple holes in the bottom of the keel to help the water drain out, and it dried up in a couple weeks. There was also a crack in the port side of the keel near the back that he patched with fiberglass tape and epoxy. We sailed the entire season without incident, but we did notice we would get a bit of water in the bilge if there was a rain, so we figure we have some sort of deck leak.
The boat was stored on a cradle for the winter up here in Rochester, NY, and unfortunately there were heavy rains within a couple weeks of the first snow. When we went to take the mast down for storage we noticed a lot of water in the bilge, but it was already frozen. Our bad. . .
Fast forward to present day. Things are thawed out here in Rochester, we've drained the bilge (still get a bit of water after a rain) but the patch on the keel has cracked open again, and is weeping a lot of water. It seems clear that we have some sort of leak where water is getting down into the keel. We are taking the following steps:
1. Replacing the rub rail. The RR was pretty trashed in spots, flat out open in others. We figure it's not an expensive job, and should help matters. This project is in progress
2. Reseal the bilge. There appears to be at least one pinhole in the side of the bilge wall, and I'm wondering if water in the bilge has been leaking down into the keel from there and saturating the area.
3. Caulk/re-bed deck wood trim. I re-finished all the brightwork last year with Cetol marine, and noticed that the previous owner had caulked around all the wood on the toe-rail and hand-rail, etc. It was black very hard/brittle, and completely pulled away from the wood, so it wasn't doing anything anymore.l I did not re-caulk, or pull the hardware and re-bed. Wondering if I should do that now.
4. We will drill another hole(s) in the bottom of the keel to allow the water to drain out. We also sanded and repainted the bottom last year with Interlux 2000E and VC-17. The entire bottom looks completely pristine after last season's sailing except this one place where the previous patch has split and the water is leaking out. There are no blisters anywhere. . .
Chainplates look OK, stanchions look OK. We had some leaking around the vent on the foredeck, so we'll be recaulking that. All of that water would appear to have been caught by a well placed bucket, though. . .
Any other ideas, or experience with the O'day 25 and water getting down into the keel? I've done some searches, but haven't been able to come up with anything that sounds like our problem. This boat was bone dry from sailing, the only time we ended up with water in the bilge was after a rain.
Thanks!
Wes Nance
Rochester, NY
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