Fiberglass sailboat with retrivable centarboard leak repair.

[Dragan2]

Hi,

Recently I tried to push down a centerboard with steel bar true a pipe for centerboard retrieval in the middle of hull, because it was stuck. Did not succeed, but a serious leak developed. I have the boat lifted and centerboard out now, and looking for proper material to close the leak. I could not see the crack , but water was coming out at front of the centerboard trunk. I filled the boat with few gallons of water to closely detect the crack, but is not coming out. I believe the crack is somewhere at connection of centerboard retrieval pipe and the hull and my be filled by dirt, so i plan to put an stainless steel pipe inside existing fiberglass one, close they whole at bottom and than pour the inter-pipe space with sealant.
What material would you recommend as a sealant for this purpose?

Thanks
Stan

 

[Rickmerrill]

Hi Stan,

I'm not completely understanding how your centerboard is setup or your proposed repair. Can you show us some pictures of the pivot point area, lifting mechanism and where you think the leak may be? What size is the boat? Do you know why the CB got stuck? Often they have a wood core and if water gets in it can swell up and that causes it to stick.