what might be leaking in in the skeg control area on my composite 170 . Maybe you call that a slider box... what ever, when I got out of the boat today I noticed there was way more water in the cockpit than what should have been. Thought my skirt might have been leaking. Got all the water out then turned the boat on edge on skeg control side, water was seeping in from somewhere in that area , could be from seat support bolts in that area . With the light I had could not tell at the time. Thought maybe you could help .
Chris
box the slider control box is known to leak. if when the boats on edge water drips out this area, it’s probably the issue.
an exterior bead of sealant around this area will usually stop the flow. 3M 5200 or Sudbury (by Rule) Elastomeric Marine sealant works best. just build up a nice bead around the box.
Had this happen The plastic around the slider control on my 165 warped massively out of shape and pulled away from the fiberglass. It happened relatively slowly and I couldn’t figure out why my sprayskirt had started to leak until one day I edged over and felt the water pouring in.
I had to heat the plastic up with a heat gun and push it back into shape. Then I used Aquaseal to stick it back to the fiberglass.
still have a leak I put a bead of sealant around outside of the slider box which was leaking…fixed that leak. Now I still have water coming in the cockpit. Have not had time to investigate since yesterdays paddle but It has to be coming from my skeg cable tube or in that area. Is this possible and is it sealed on one or both ends? I am getting about a pint of water per mile! I have no bulkhead or hatch leaks nor is my skirt leaking.
leak found what a dufus! I found the leak… a hole about the size of a big pin head located direcly under the seat of the boat. The hole looks like it came from the inside out. Like a small pebble was diretly under the seat pan and the weight of my body caused it to push thru the hull. Dunno.
Is there supposed to be … … a plastic cap at the end of the skeg tube, in the cockpit? No plastic cap on my glass 165, but I seem to recall it on my plastic 170. I get a little water in the cockpit as well, and have wondered about the (possibly) missing cap … maybe lets some water in from the slider action.
Plan to look around the cable box itself in the spring…
Foam Try wedging some soft foam (Like thin sheet packing foam, or something similar) under the seat pan to cushion the gap and keep sand & pebbles out. Not enough to move the seat, but just enough to hold itself in place. That should keep it from happening again in most cases.
wear if this hole is from sand/grit grinding through a low spot on the seat then you should re-apply a patch of glass on the wear spot to replace the worn material then glue in a minicell pad to isolate the seat from the hull.
Regarding the skeg slider box the issue showed up a year into production as the thermoformed piece of plastic probably distorts under heat over time. 5200 is killer stuff, there’s a fast curing version otherwise it takes days to cure up. Make sure to clean up the glass/plastic before applying the goop