I am taking on way too much water, I am pretty sure my stern rudder hardware is ok. Today I had at least 5 gallons. I took a lot of water over the boat (great day) could my dagger boards wells cause that much or do I have a crack under the the cross beam?

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Nacra 5.2
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I went through exactly what you describe, 5 gal every few days on my 5.7.
I had sealed all rivets on the jib tracks,bridle wires,new drain plugs & greased the beam bolts. I could hear lots of air hissing from the little white plug, up high on the hull near the stern, you can see it between the tiller arm & traveler, so I removed the mount sealed it airtight with marine silicone.


The hull still leaked. It is very difficult to seal the shroud chain plates, the hull flexes a bit & the silicone kept pulling away. I was new to Cats & dumped it every few days, so I wasn't sure if that's where it was getting in.
Finally I tied it to my dock for 3 straight days when the wind was calm & no sailing, it still took on water. I counted that as a positive, as I now knew the leak had to be below the waterline.
It is much easier to put a fair bit of air in the hull by 4-5 large breaths through that little white plug than via the drain plugs. Give it a few puffs, then you can just hold your hand over the hole, it will stay pressurized for over 30 seconds. I did this while having the kids go under the hulls with mask & snorkel & watch for bubbles. Still no joy. I finally did what I should have done in the first place, mix some dishwashing soap & water, put it in a spritzer bottle & have the kids spray the hull while I blew. Bingo, less than 20 seconds to see bubbles from below the water line.
The previous owner did a really crummy patch over a dime sized hole they punched in the thin sidewall below waterline.
I put the boat on the lift, let it dry out, used an angle grinder to for the rough work, & was ready to go in less than 2 hours. I sailed it for several hard days after & only got a cupful of water.
Here is my fix:
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?module=pictures&g2_itemId=77105

After what I went through, I can say, just go with the soapy spray. The patch was almost impossible to detect, they had smoothed it out fairly well, just used the wrong materials.
You can do it solo by rigging something to hold a vacuum cleaner hose near the hole, it is quicker & easier to get a buddy to blow in the port or hold the hose,(bribe him with a beer)while you spray.





edited by: Edchris177, Oct 17, 2010 - 09:10 PM

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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wow that is a lot of water. I have seen people take out all the screws and fasteners that go directly into hall and refastening them using marine silicone as above. If you are taking on that much water. my guess would be you may a small hairline crack in your hull somewhere below the water line.

I know my own cat that I bought this past spring one of the hulls took on more water than I would like, so I am going to resurface the bottom with west system epoxy than paint over for below the water line and just use paint for above.

Thanks found the hairline today.

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Nacra 5.2
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where was the crack?

other old 5.2 owners might want to check their boats

ps nice repair Ed



Edited by erice on Oct 20, 2010 - 07:25 AM.