Hi Guys

My first post here so apologies if this is in the wrong forum or is answered elsewhere... But I have been reading up on past threads on hull leaks but couldnt find anthing specific to the Inter 17 so here goes...

Story is we have a boat built around '97 or '98 and get roughly 4 X as much water in the starboard hull than the port. Unfortunately we have never actually captured and measured the amount (we dont have drain plugs) but after a standard 2-3 hour outing or race we would have about 5 sponge loads in one and 20 in the other.. We would expect roughly the same in both so assumed something was wrong. We thought we had found the problem when we noticed the inspection port had a couple of broken rivets and could be lifted half off the deck, but we removed it, re-siliconed it and pop riveted it back into place and the leak ratio seems just the same..

Today we did pressure tests on the hull with a compressor and aerosol generator hoping to see where the aerosol "smoke" came out, but it was windy day and not too conclusive so we ended up doing a standard soap bubble test instead.

Both hulls blew bubbles around the daggerboard slots but it was hard to see exactly where and in addition the port hull had a crack around 6" long that blew bubbles along the top deck where the non slip edge joins the smooth gel coat. This puzzled us as we thought this was the "good' hull but our last outing was fairly exciting (ie, high speed pitchfork.) and though I thought the boats were designed to take this it could be new damage we have done...

Anyway to the specific questions if anyone has been down this road before us..

1) Are there any known weak points on the daggerboard slots where the leak will probably be (ie, front or back and top or bottom etc..)

2) Do we have any reasonable chance of repairing this by running new gel coat or epoxy down the slot to seal from the outside or will we need to cut in new inspection hatches and repair internally from behind..?

3) Any recommendations on which material/system would be best for the repair.?

4) I thought the hulls were 2 piece and split vertically with a central seam top and bottom and that the beige colour non slip top panel was just a cosmetic cover but now I am not so sure.. is the top deck a seperate piece that is then bonded together.?

Thanks to anyone able to shed some light on this..!

Check out Jake's construction project- at teamsseacats.com
He fixed some cracks along the daggerboard wells also. I am not too familiar with the I17, where are the inspection ports? Ideally it would be nice to cut new ones between the front beam and daggerboard wells so you could get to the internal aspect of the wells... but check out Jake's site because I think he is planning on doing the same.

I am a little confused. Here in the US, the Inter 17 was introduced in 2000, but you say yours is a 1997 or 1998 model. The US single-handed version is different than the Aus double-handed Inter 17.

The US version has decks that can be removed to access the inside of the hull. The decks have the non-skid. The US version has drain plugs. It sounds like you have the Aus Inter 17, which is different than the boat I am familiar with.

The hulls are made in two halves, the top deck areas are cut out, the halves are joined, the daggerboard wells fitted/finished, the exterior seams are refinished, and then the decks glued in place.

My F18 had a similar deck leak - but your repair options depend on where and how severe the deck leak is. If it's forward of the main beam, you probably want to do the following because the decks provide an important structural component to the boat. I've had a deck before that could be lifted with a fingernail - it was leaking badly. I fixed it by very tightly masking off the hull and the deck around the seam and working in epoxy with some microballoons. I would push the deck down, and using a syringe, apply epoxy to the joint, then ease the pressure off the deck. I did this several times until I felt the joint had drawn in plenty of resin. Then I used a series of wood blocks and ratchet straps around the hull to apply light pressure to the deck. It has held up fine. If you have a slight leak behind the main beam and it's relatively minor, you can seal it using 3M 5200...note that 5200 cleans up easily with mineral spirits leaving a very nice smooth finish.

The daggerboards have a potential to leak in a couple of areas. The first (and easiest to fix) is where the daggerboard might wear through the back of the trunk at the top of the slot. Look to see if you can see an opening there. Simply fill this with polyester or epoxy resin mixed with microballoons or milled glass fibers. You might want to mix in some aluminum powder because it will help with future wear and abrasion resistance. The second potential leak is the sealant used to seal the top deck to the daggerboard trunk. If you pressurize the hull (NOT TOO MUCH PRESSURE - use the exhaust of a vacuum cleaner), lie on your back lookup up the daggerboard well and spray soapy water inside the well.

Thanks for the replies and in particular to the link for jake's site.

I hadnt thought about the origin of the boat but we are in Singapore so I would guess Australia is most likely. If nothing else at least the ambient temperatures here should help with curing times..!

The top deck leak is behind the main beam but before the shroud. It seems very rigid and cant be lifted.. for the moment at least. Each hull has one inspection hatch which is on the deck about 6" forward of the stern.

For the daggerboards we will probably attempt a repair first from outside the boat. We will save cutting in extra hatches for plan B when that doesnt work.!

Singapore 17,

I have a 2000 model I 17.

Hulls are still sound, even though we sail in the Caribbean with wind ( 15mph-ish) and waves(2-3 feet) as normal conditions.

Plus, we sail 12 months out of the year too.

Why don't you install some drain plugs in the stern? It will be real handy for you.

HOw is your sailing out there?

regards,

Bruce

St. Croix
USVI

ps. I have yet to see a snow luge track here yet..

Hi Bruce

There are probably 30+ Cats here in Singapore out at the Changi Sailing Club on the East of the island. Mostly a collection of older NACRA 5.0's and newer Taipans along with a couple of Blades and A-class.. We are 1 of only 2 I17's and I have never seen the other boat out on the water which is a pity but we still get some good racing in with the other guys...

We sail year round too but its best from around November - March while the NE Monsoon is blowing.. Its frustrating by the time we fix the boat the winds will probably gone..! Still its better sailing than in my native UK... here if you are wet and chilly you can just jump in the sea to warm up... :-)

Havent been in the Caribbean since getting evacuated from St John USVI back in Hurricane Hugo but will be in Curacao later in the year to join the Clipper boat race up to New York and then across the atlantic to the UK. See how much of my small cat knowledge is useful on a 68ft monohull.... probably none of it.!

Regards

Jon

Awwww shoot. It should only take one afternoon to repair that once you locate the problem.