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Holy crap.

As casually mentioned in the "Rethinking the Keel" thread, I've noticed water in the boat, and last time I was on it, new water in the cabin sole just aft of the mast. And it had not rained a drop. I bent down to get a closer glimpse and WHOA, there was water leaking out from under the starboard settee/berth. Not a good sign. Those are "sealed" compartments, meant that way for additional flotation and there shouldn't be a drop in there.

So I cut an exploratory and far from elegant hole in the settee and to my profound disappointment and befuddlement, there was a LOT OF WATER IN THERE. I sponged it out and went home.

Tomorrow I'll go back down and look in the other compartment, try to figure out what the heck is going on! Look for a hole in the bottom? More likely, it's because the old keel took a hard grounding (or many of them) and torqued out a ragged rip in the bottom of the keel box.

But this sucks....

I think the screw in inspection hatches may be in my floatation tanks in the near future. Cheap insurance, maybe.

Yep, that's definitely in the plans for today. The big ones, too.

Once you've put a hatch in you might want to add a tire valve and pressurize the tank - pressurize it VERY gently, only a couple of psi - to see (hear) if the leaking spot becomes apparent.

Weather has changed, unfortunately, but I did get a few inspection ports installed and all the moisture in the compartments has been dealt with. Big question now is: how the hell did it get in there in the first place? I'm guessing: through keelbox leaks and in enough volume to slosh over the dividers between compartments. The next quest will be to find and eliminate water intrusion from the source.

Tim, I recommend pressurizing the tank very slowly!!! I’ve found using the blower end of a shopvac to be too much pressure. Believe me, I had to rebuild a water tank at my expense.

Loose duct tape with the blower side of a vac at your inspection port should be plenty of flow. Let air escape from the inspection port too. Use a spray bottle with water and a few drops of dish soap to spray areas and look for bubbles.

If that doesn’t find the leak think about getting thermal images taken.

Good luck!! -Tim

Adding a Schaeder valve and using a bicycle pump is a low risk way to get low pressure.