Chrysler Sailors Forum

Yesterday was the day... and a beautiful day I might add (mid 60's, sunny, 5-10 kt winds from the NW) perfect timing to finally get the boat splashed and delivered to her new home. All the major winter projects were done (motor rebuild, new motor mount, new throttle and shift cables for the motor, bottom paint, fixed rudder cheek, compounding and waxing). She was in the slings when I pulled into the marina... what a beautiful sight, her red hull gleeming, contrasted by the fresh black bottom. After a little tinkering with the new control lines we finally got it all hooked up and ready to go! The engine even started with only a little cajoling. BTW, I don't know if anyone else has started doing this, but now is as good a time as any to suggest it: I've started only running airplane fuel for my outboard and I highly suggest it. It is ethanol free, 100 octane, low lead and has about twice the "shelf life" of your standard unleaded. You can get it at most any small commercial airport, but it does cost about twice as much... well worth it if you asked me. Cheaper than a rebuild and in the grand scheme of things. How many gallons are you really going to use in a season? Treatments are fine, but there's no substitute for having NO ethanol. I'm sure I could find a marina that has non-ethanol fuel too, but the extra octane and the little bit of lead just seem to help the motor run better. Anywho, I digress...
So, we get the motor running, but.... and here comes the start of it all... no reverse. Pfft, no big deal, right. Tons of sailboats don't have reverse and learning to rely on the motor less would be a good thing. Still something I'll need to check on. Anyone with a little knowledge on Yamaha 4-stroke outboards? I would love any help (it's the gearbox, not the cables, when I unhooked the cables and manually tried to put the engine in reverse gear, it still wouldn't engage.)
But... after a quick check down below and seeing everything was ship-shape, we took off for a quick scenic cruise past iconic Thomas Point Lighthouse and eventually past the majestic spires and domes of Annapolis. Quite a sight from the water! If you've never sailed the Chesapeake Bay, make it a point to at some point, it truly is a sailor's playground!
Call it diligence to safety, call it paranoia, call it providence or intuition, but about 10 min after taking off I check the bilge again.... GASP! A LEAK! A bilge that could've passed for the Sahara last season is now sloshing about with the very stuff I'm trying to keep OUT. Call SeaTow! Call the Coast Guard! we're going down! Well, that is until my buddy (with ages more boating experience than myself and he was along for exactly this kind of calming demeanor) comes down and chuckles "That's not a leak, it's just seeping" Seeping, leak, whatever... it's water coming in, no matter how slow, and that means: I don't like it. We determined that its "seeping" in from the knotmeter thru-hull, but not enough to turn around or stop, so we kept going. By the time we got to our new slip, it really was just a seep, because the bilge had barely collected much more water. However, an ever present drip could be seen running from the knotmeter down to the bilge. My knotmeter is located port side, in the same compartment as the bilge access, just behind the galley.
I pumped it out (I only have a manual pump) and made a quick run to the store for some 4200. We first tried to tighten everything down with some channel locks, but the plastic fitting, is either OEM, or pretty darn close and looked a little brittle so I really didn't feel comfortable tightening too much, and it didn't help slow the leak at all either. I decided that the best course of action was to seal it off, and gobbed enough 4200 on that thing to nearly encase it. After waiting an hour or 2, I checked again, and the leak had slowed to almost nothing and after putting some more on this morning, I'm pretty confident it's done.
BUT, that's only a temporary fix. I'm not really too sure what to do next here. Haul it out again? Is there anything I can do while it's still in the water? None of the other thru-hulls (sink drain, depth) are seacocks, am I to expect the same from them soon too? I don't really use the knotmeter... as blues legend Howlin' Wolf sang "I'm built for comfort, baby, I ain't built for speed". On top of that, it's never worked anyway... Depth went out too, 2 weeks after I bought the boat last summer.
I'd love to hear any suggestions, what you guys have done already and what you think would work best.

Well Tommy,

I'm all for pullin out old through hulls and sealing the hulll up, especially ones that dont work and with todays GPS and through the hull fishfinders.... Now that she's in the water it seems like a pain to pull her just to do that. Unless you had a trailer available. You don't have to drop the mast, but if she's so brittle your afraid to snug her I'd yank that puppy the next time outta the water for sure, along with the others that aren't needed. It would take a weekend of work but

It's early in the season and with the motor problems It would be nice to get those things squared away so you can sail hard the rest of the year without worry or trouble later. With it sealed for now you don't have to rush any decisions.

Your right, I don't use my reverse very often. But if thats showing transmission issues in the motor I would get that taken care of asap an I'd be lookin at a good used one for parts down the road.

Good luck!

Billy

100% pull and seal proplerly. Who needs to worry about their boat sinking. Takes the fun out if it.

I'm coming to that conclusion, that I'll have to pull it sooner than later. I was able to seal around it, but wasn't able to properly "bed" the threaded parts.

From what I've been researching today I could either pull it and yank the offending pieces and glass it over OR yank it and replace it with proper seacocks, which will still allow for any upgrades that I may want to do later down the road. The only thing that may use a raw water intake would be a head or inboard engine. Since I'm in salt to brackish water I don't think I want to use that water for a head and an inboard just doesn't make sense.

A cause for praise about these boats is that Chrysler didn't core the hull, which is comforting. No cause for concern about her rotting away from underneath.

I also read (was it a Cap'n Scott post? maybe?) that Chryslers are "positively buoyant". I have an idea about what that means but can anyone clarify?

But, what do you think? Glass the sucker in or seacock?

Great thread...Knotmeter thru hull is coming out!

Tommy Monaco wrote:I also read (was it a Cap'n Scott post? maybe?) that Chryslers are "positively buoyant". I have an idea about what that means but can anyone clarify?

The 22's have flotation foam, and will only submerge to a point, say maybe the deck still being above water, etc.

The 26's have a lot of ballast and will sink - completely.

Eihter way will ruin a good boat...

the 22s may be positively buoyant (fewer as the years go by, by the sounds of it!) but I can't see how the 26 would be.
Positive buoyancy means the boat will float even if filled with water, I believe.

Bob,
What a place to put that thing huh !
EE's paddle sensor is on the SB side under the banquette, the depth sensor on the port side under banquette along with the inlet for the head..
Easily accessible there, but I also never put anything under the banquettes that carries any heft, worried about something shifting and hitting them !

Through hulls, I think they change location from boat to boat... more of a PO chose than a factory directive. To date I've only found three on my 1980 C26 project. The drain for the sink just at the waterline port side and two others right below the bow cooler compartment, there is easy access through center screw out in photo. Both right at the centerline the old paddle sensor SB and what looks like an old depth sensor port. I'm inclined to just remove them and close up the holes when I get to them... through hulls this far below the waterline makes a new comer like me nervous.



Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26' 1980
Pandora (for now)

Absolutely Terrence, there's just something fundamentally counter-intuitive about putting holes in a boat below the waterline. Its something every boat has, but still something I struggle to get my head around. I can't wait to get these things sealed up.

Man I'm late here but congratulations on getting her in the water!
There is nothing wrong with through hulls as long as they are proper through hulls and properly sealed. A thought for you might be to have some wood bungs or plugs taperd to fit the through hull. That way if there is a problem on the future you can always just plug it temporarily.


Salt water heads will stink if you do not do a final flush with fresh water!
Salt water cooling on an engine is OK however you would want a water jacket and heat exchanger so the salt water never really comes into contact with the engine! Another use for inboard salt water is washing dishes. We use a salt water pump to wash dishes and final rinse with fresh.

If the through hull will never be used, I'd fill it. If there is any thought you might use it some day, I'd just properly fix it.



Congrats on your launch!

Scott

EE has the 2 under the port banquette (depth and head inlet), one under starboard (paddle wheel), one under stern berth (dummy plug in it). Also a 4x6 zinc under the stern berth to which the grounding cables run, that results in two small holes for the zinc mounting. And of course all C26's have that large thru hull for the rudder tube..and just above the waterline EE has gray water outlets for head and bilge/sink..

Mine was built as diesel but they put the OB mount on the transom but I have the seacock for water cooling and my bilge pump outlet is below the toe rail as a friend of mine had a bilge pump outlet below water line and failed to get air into the line when pump stopped he looked and it was siphoning back in through the pump. He was glad he did not leave the boat.