Water in under hull.
- Thread starter Pam
- Start date
I'm glad to hear that you found the source of the leak. That's an inspection plate. It was probably installed to access the centerboard pivot bolt although it can be accessed from the bottom of the boat. I'm afraid you'll probably have to take the boat out of the water to repair it. You may get by with re-calking it but I would recommend a fiberglass patch.
You have to wonder why sailors do things like this? Too lazy to pull the boat out?
Definitely pull the boat out and fix it on the trailer. Look down inside first and see what might have possessed him to do it in the first place. As BG said, the centerboard pivot bolts can be accessed without this hole.
The short answer is yes. In my case, the rub rail has a couple of scars from dings with previous owners. I have looked for and identified several leaks coming through the rub rail. Some leaks are where the dings are, others are elsewhere.
I talked with a parts rep at Blue Water Yachts (BWY) in Seatle. I purchased new rub rail to install but had to have surgery on my shoulder so have to wait till I heal. BWY said when I replace the rub rail, I need to use solvent to cleat the joint and use 5200 sealant to reinstall the new rail. The rail was cheap but he said it will take a full day and a come-along secured to a tree to get it done. He suggested about 5 or 6 tubes of 5200 should do it but plan for a messy day with a lot of cleanup of.
Check the drain connections below the galley sink that exit just above the waterline on the starboard side. I found mine was in pretty bad shape when I bought my boat and believe it could have been leaking if I was in moderate wind on a port tack.
Also, take notice of the lazarette at the stern. If your boat is parked or leans to port, the drainage trough around the lazarette hatch will not be able to drain properly and will spill into the lazarette.
Put it back in water last night. Hopefully that got it! Actually drove it around with the motor for the first time. Feels a little more unstable than expected. Water ballast filled. Did not have sail up or keel down. Is that something u get used to? Only used to ski boat. Also feel like I need to get in better physical shape!!!! Has anyone else felt this way??
The water ballast boats are tender, so it takes some getting used to. I recommend that you lower the keel, even partially to get better control when you motor. Sailing is a physical sport, so the more fit you are, the safer and easier it is.
May NOT be true!! some Macgregors even of the same model have two inspection plates inside the cabin to access the centerboard pivot bolt. In these cases, it is NOT accessible from outside. If you I fiberglass over the inspection port you may not be able to get to the bolt fort inspection or removal of the centerboard. I know for a fact the 26S was configured differently on some models. I have one that cannot be accessed from below the boat.
Research and inspect first!
The picture Pam posted is exactly the same in appearance to mine.
Couple of things here... Pam, your profile says you have a 1993 26X. In 93, it should be a 26S, not X. They stopped making the S in 95, when they started making the X. The 93 26S definitely has two inspection ports, just as you found, one under the sink, and one in front of the head. This is how you access the swing-keel pivot bolts on a 92-ish and later 26S. (That's if you need to drop the swing keel out from under the boat to fix it.)
The older S boats had access from two ports on the outside. Also, the 26X support for their swing keel is from the inside/outside, and different than what you found. (Has a hanger bolt and yoke.)
I'm going to assume you have an S not an X, because of what your picture shows. You can rest easy, nobody modified your boat incorrectly. It is as the factory built it (minus the leak, we hope).
Those plates open up directly to the big ballast tank, like the top on a thermos jug...wide open hole...on either side of the keel trunk (the space the keel hides in when you pull it up). So if the goop was un-gooping, and you had a leak, it was just from the ballast tank, and not from the outside in, another thing to be relieved about.
Hope this helps...