Mahe 36: Hull

[le mistral]

You are absolutely right about what you are saying here - all of it!
I have blisters, but they might be in the epoxy primer itself due to wrong application/curing-drying times/layer thickness related to this etc.
I am in contact with the dealer about this and we will soon find out when the boat is out of the water in a couple of weeks.

However, I know cases where osmosis has occured even in our Norwegian waters after not that many years. If a layer of epoxy primer is applied on the boat it slowes down the possibilities of having this problem substantially. But as you say, it is not the end of the world so don't worry too much, be happy!

Originally Posted by muskoka

The surveyor and the FP agreed it was osmosis and FP paid to have it fixed under warranty. So it is osmosis. And it happens to more boats than you'd imagine in tropical waters.

Osmosis is simply a chemical reaction between uncured resin and water. I suspect every single boat built with polyester has pockets of uncured resin to some degree. So, if you sit them in tropical water year round there is a strong likelihood that ultimately there will be some degree of osmotic reaction. In my last boat, there was no evidence until the hull was 10 years old and even then it was just very small 'pimples'. My Lavezzi had about a dozen very shallow blisters which were easily repaired.

If your boat is in Norway I imagine that the cold water and the fact that you sit her on the hard in winter will dry the hull sufficiently that you're unlikely to experience any problems for a long time.

However in tropical waters it seems to affect most boats eventually. The good news is that it isn't structural nor is it the end of the world! I take the view that it's just a fact of life which makes slightly more work to keep the hull in good condition. It's still better than chasing rust on a steel hull or rot on a wood hull!

[vayacondios]

I never really liked the website address in the pinstripping along the water line. Love the name but not the website. So I took it off. This is what it looks like without the www. and the .com

Rozzie
Vaya con Dios
Hull 111

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by vayacondios

I never really liked the website address in the pinstripping along the water line. Love the name but not the website. So I took it off. This is what it looks like without the www. and the .com

Rozzie
Vaya con Dios
Hull 111

Good Idea. I may do that on next haul out

[MKB53]

Hi All
I was wondering if anyone has experienced the same problem that I have and can offer any advice.

After heavy rain (and we have just had our wettest month in 6 years!) I get quite a lot of water in the starboard hull. A few days rain and there is probably 20-25 litres. Definitely rain, not salt.

I have looked at a number of things like water flowing down the mast and via the conduiting but have drawn a blank. This week I noticed that there was a little trail of water at the base of the bulkhead under the starboard chainplate. It is definitely leaking there but I find it hard to believe the quantity of water we took in did not leave more evidence/damage on the wall cladding or wooden bulkhead.

My next trick is to make some dams and try to narrow it down to a specific area.

Any suggestions on where to look would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Martin

[Cotemar]

Seal the top off your rub rail outside with marine silicon. It's coming though the screws holding the rub rail and hull joint

[DtM]

Martin,

I suspect Cotemar is correct.

We used to get a similar issue on our Mahe in the port bilge where water came into the aft cabin wall lining and ran down.

If it is from the chainplate area you will be surprised how much water actually runs down the rigging to that area. Try lifting the rub tube on the shroud and see how much water is in there after last weekend !!

[MKB53]

Thanks for the feedback on this guys, I will have a look.

[MKB53]

If it is what you suggest then I guess the water goes down behind the interior moulding and what I saw at the bulkhead was only the overflow!

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by JohnyV

Does anyone know the make of the deck cleats? I'd like to add a couple, preferably matching the existing ones to the aft inboard sides.

Goiot makes the Mahe hatches and the deck cleats.

The FP Mahe uses 10"inch 260 mm Goiot cleats
___________A______ B______ C______ D______ E
103898___260 mm___ 55mm___ 35mm___ 65mm___ 8mm

www.goiot.com/pdf/p41.pdf

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by DtM

Martin,

I suspect Cotemar is correct.

We used to get a similar issue on our Mahe in the port bilge where water came into the aft cabin wall lining and ran down.

If it is from the chainplate area you will be surprised how much water actually runs down the rigging to that area. Try lifting the rub tube on the shroud and see how much water is in there after last weekend !!

Seal the top off your rub rail outside with Marine silicon.

I used clear Boat Life (Lifeseal) on stanchions and rubrails
It's coming though the screws holding the rub rail and hull joint.

These pictures are from when I was helping another owner fix his rubrail water leak. The rubrail comes off very easy for visual inspection and re-sealing.
Can also be done from a dingy when in the water

[tpkas]

Martin,

I have exactly the same problem.

Previously I found water coming in via the rub rail. It seems that FP use temporary screws to hold the deck and hulls together when they bond them, then they remove the screws, install the rub rail but don't fill the screw holes. As the silicone sealant they use at the rub rail screw attachment points disbond it allows water to enter the hull to deck join and then through the unfilled screw holes then between the hull side and the vinyl liner. This affected both port and starboard hulls on our boat. Rectification was to remove the timber trim at the top of the vinyl liner slightly over drill the old screw holes to remove water affected glass and then pump in a generous amount of sealant/adhesive with a caulking gun.

As for the water in the bilge I am at a loss and the problem drives me nuts .... Water should be on the outside of the boat!!! I guess I'll have to start looking at the chain plates as suggested. Let us know if you're successful in finding a cause.

Brian

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by tpkas

As for the water in the bilge I am at a loss and the problem drives me nuts .... Water should be on the outside of the boat!!! I guess I'll have to start looking at the chain plates as suggested. Let us know if you're successful in finding a cause.

Brian

FWIW,
I had a 'just above the waterline' thru-hull not sealed properly allowing water in whenever we sailed. Fixed it and both bilges have been dry ever since. Easy to determine as there was no water coming in when the boat simply sat at the dock, so it had to be when waves were splashing.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by tpkas

Martin,

As for the water in the bilge I am at a loss and the problem drives me nuts .... Water should be on the outside of the boat!!! I guess I'll have to start looking at the chain plates as suggested. Let us know if you're successful in finding a cause.

Brian

May want to also check the water tanks and hose fittings. Was posted earlier that a crack in a watertank hose was causing water in the bilge.

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

There are many possible causes of water in the Mahé, except for the rubbing rail things mentioned. We have some experience......
First step is to taste the water!

Sweet water in the bilge:
- Shower water leaks behind the plastic door under the wash basin in the heads.
- Water around the wash basin flows under the cover for the holding tank and drops down there
- The caulking around the hoses of the heads can be leaking. When you clean the heads with the shower, as is our custom, water flowed down the outside of the hoses.
- The seal under the kitchen wash basin can be loose or shifted.
- We have had a bad O-ring in the bathroom. This is between the bathroom tap body and the connection hose. Like with other water-system leaks, the water pump will run at unexpected moments. We got a lot of water in the hull! The hot water O-ring was broken, snapped; I replace it with a Viton (fluorine rubber) O-ring, this one can handle higher temperatures; I suspected the broken O-ring was due to the hot water temperature
- Last one: condensation water runs down on the inside of the hull into the bilge, thanks to our lovely North-European climate.

Salt water in the bilge:
- Waves slamming the bridgedeck might get pushed into the hoses of the bilge pump. I installed one way valves there. To my regret this did not solve the problem, there was another cause.
- Waves hitting the hole in the anchor locker for the anchor chain will enter into the anchor locker, and spray will get into the water tank area. From there it will flow down into the bilge.
- The O-ring on the depth/speed sensor can leak. I put something called Magic Lube on both seals, this is a kind of teflon vaseline.
- The clips on the head seawater hose were never re-tightened after we bought the ship. We came aboard the ship once, after a month or so, and there was 10 cm of brownish water (river, not salty) in the starboard hull. It had not yet reached the floorboards, to our luck.

Water into the engine room: taste whether it's sweet or seawater!
- High temperature of the boiler (calorifier) will lead to water being pushed out through the safety vent.
- The hose ties, that were tight when the ship was new, were never re-tightened. Seawater or drinking water.
- Water (seawater or when washing the ship) gets around the seal of the engine hatches. Sit inside, close the hatch, and see whether you see light from outside. Let somebody spray the hatch, and look what enters. Improve the seal.
- The seal on the small winterizing cap on the grey plastic exhaust box tends to leak
- The seawater seal on the seawater pump of the engine can start to leak.

Water in the bows:
This one I heard from Fountaine Pajot, we didn't have it but it happened on some ships.
Where the deck and hull meet at the front, on the inside of the hull, there is the point where the horizontal joint under the trampoline meets the vertical caulked joint which runs over the bow.
At that point caulking has in some cases been done insufficiently. Check from the inside with a torch, you might see salt water traces in that case.

I think we have had most of these at some moment. Just check it often, and play detective: did it rain? Did you have a rough sea? Did you wash the ship? Always try to find it, do not accept ANY water in the ship.
First step would be to check all hose clips, it's the cheapest step in excluding causes.

Keep you bilges dry, so the labels on your wine bottles do not detach!
Oh yes, when you dry the bilge, water might stay behind in the aft part of the bilge which you can not reach it. As soon as you sail, that water might flow forward, leading you to think the problem is not solved, while it actually is!

[tpkas]

Thanks for all of that Jeff. In our case it does only seem to appear after a fair bit of rain so the detective work continues. I have a suspicion that the rub rail is still leaking in the head area allowing water to run down the inside of the fibreglass liner. Will let you know when I find the cause.

I did previously have a split in the water tank pipe from the deck fill point. Every time I put water in the tank I'd also end up with a few litres in the bilge but that has since been resolved.


Regards,

Brian