Leaking Yachtline

[Aussie Charles]

Hi, I am trying to make my second hand (new to me) yachtline 480dl seaworthy. It was taking on water so I filled the hull. Found the only leak was from a small crack in the gel coat on the edge of the port side flap. Unusual spot for a leak. Has any one seen this? Is this structure purely Fiberglas or is there plywood underneath? Does it indicate a major or minor problem?

Cheers, charles

[9D280]

Hi,

I donlt know these ribs at all, but a couple of questions:
if you knock your way along the flap, does it sound hollow, and / or does it significantly change note when compared to the Stbd side?

Also was the leak a drip or a gush?

I would guess looking at your pic that the flap is formed by a continuation of the layup of the bottom of the hull, in which case you may need to open it up, dig it out and replace the core.

There's guys on here do that sort of thing all the time, so I'll leave them to expand on that thought, but if you could let us know the P / S difference that might help.

[Aussie Charles]

When I knock it, it sounds solid and no different from the starboard side. When the hull was filled with water to a level about 10 cm above the hole, it had a steady stream - bigger stream than I would have expected from such a small crack.

Thanks. Charles

[PeterM]

If it were my boat I'd be having major kittens by now ......

Its not a good area to have anything 'wrong' - its the one bit of the boat that takes a lot of a beating and stress.

Considering it looks so shiny its a really odd place to have a split. Has it ever been damaged and fixed ( badly) ?

Is the engine on some kind of plate / extension ?

[captnjack]

Is the part above your finger a stiffening rib for the transom? Looks to me like its magnified the stresses in the hull layup at that point. So I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's a crushed/delaminated area in the hull underneath it.

Unfortunately I don't know that boat at all and have no idea how to fix it.

[Portholme]

I had a yacht line (great boat IMO, though most on here are not of the leisure RIB persuasion) and I think you will be able to investigate this better if you;

Take off the rear locker cover and helm seat
Remove the aft locker sole, which from memory is screwed in
Alternatively remove the electric bilge pump cover which is certainly screwed in
Climb in the locker and use mirrors and torches to investigate from the inside

I'd be looking for signs of where the deck moulding has delaminated from the hull moulding from inside. this is an incredibly strong part of any boat and impact is really the only thing that would damage it there. Has it been dropped from a crane or anything??? Is there any sign of repair or heavy gel coat cracks??

I had a race boat (49er) of very similar structure but obviously much lighter that was rear ended by a drunkard idiot in a car in a dinghy park at a sailing meeting. It suffered exactly the same fate as your boat but it took a heck of an impact to separate the deck from the hull. There's a lot of stringers and epoxy holding a boat together.

Hope that helps

[Aussie Charles]

Yes, the engine is on an aluminum extension. I opened the storage locker under the helm seat and removed the bilge cover. The transom from the inside looks pristine. No evidence of any repairs. On the outside, I have dug it out and it seems to be pretty limited. A bit of minor delamination. It appears that there was some gel coating in the area but not much.