I wonder if anyone has any ideas regarding the following problem:
I sail a Prindle 18-2. In each hull there are these thin pipes that horizontaly go through from left to right. Through these pipes run the elastic ropes (blocked with a knot on the internal side of the opening)that hold the trapeze wire with the dogbone steady (sorry, but I don't know if the pipes have a specific name). My problem is that these pipes have some holes and thus the hull(s) take in water (especially in heavy weather and when capsized). Unfortunately it looks very difficult and "dangerous" to try and force them out to fix them...and it is impossible to reach them from inside the hull! One way of solving the problem would be sealing off the pipe as a whole and tying the elastic ropes somewhere else...Any less "radical" ideas?

Firstly, I wouldn't be so sure that's where the water is coming in to the boat. Centerboard wells, rudder gudgeons, ports and drain ports are the usual culprits.

The time-honored way to find out for sure is the soap test, similar to the way mechanics find holes in car tires. Take a vacuum cleaner. Run the hose to its exhaust. LOOSELY, and that is a MUST, run the vac exhaust to the drain on your hull. Rather aim the vac hose at the drain and duct tape it to the hull, just enough air to get in and create gentle pressure on the hull.

Fill a spray bottle with soapy water and spray the hull. Look at bow tangs, shroud fittings, centerboard wells, ports, rudder gudgeons. If they bubble, well, there's your problem.

To check the drain ports, screw in the pluts, take the vac hose and again LOOSELY hang it in a port, sort of sealing it with duct tape again. Just get some pressure on the hull. Spray the drain plug port and look for bubbles.

If the bungee tubes are indeed where the leaks are, the easiest thing is to just plug 'em with exterior grade silicone. Otherwise, seal whatever leaks with silicone or fibreglass your board trunks.

good luck with it
sea ya
tami

Sounds very familiar...had the same on the P19 I had...Taking on tons of water.
You may want to consider running your trap bungies through the sides of the trampoline (instead of through the hulls). If that works I would just close the holes and forget about the pipes. So your trap wires would end up coming out on the inside of the hulls. Have a look at the setup on other type boats.

I just posted answer at the formula 18 forum

Dan

Thanks so much for answering...I had written a mail to Nacra asking for some idea or spare part and the idiots never bothered to answer!
Tami, it is exactly through the procedure you describe that I found the pipes to be leaking. Unfortunately it seems like there are not much options other than sealing the pipes...Be well, Alberto.

Regarding pressurising the hulls for leak testing, I usually tape a plastic bag into the other port from the blower, and use it as a gauge of how pumped up its getting in there...

Shame on my homeys at PerfCats for not making those guides removable/replaceable... (forget what the formal sailing name for them is...)



EXCELLENT idea... plus it provides a "blowout" safety release to keep the hulls from being overpressured!

OTOH, since glassing in new larger tubes would be a major PITA, you might actually like it better if the shockcords exited at the inboard edge of the hull, as mentioned above, as this leaves the rail less cluttered... however, this usually involves getting 4 new grommets installed on the existing tramp.