Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

Products

and services

PBO SKIPPER’S

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SKIPPER’S

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Your quick-reference guide to safety and

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CRUISING

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SAFETY

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FROM THIS...

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GETTING STARTED

BUILD YOUR

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Ways to locate a leak

Y

ou can mostly identify leaks with a hose, squirting water over deck
fi ttings and other places mentioned above to fi nd the culprit. However,
actually following the track of a leak is surprisingly diffi cult. Where the
water ends up is not necessarily where it entered the boat. Many modern
production cruisers are built with an internal ‘matrix’ bonded to the hull:
these in particular can distribute water to an area far from its entry point.
But there are a few methods to let you discover the water’s route and
likely source.

TALCUM POWDER

Tracking slow leaks can be aided

by dusting an area (for instance

the hull, underneath a number of

fi ttings) with talcum powder. This

will show the tracks taken by a

small amount of water. Using a

sheet of tissue paper is another,

less messy way to do this.

BUILD A DAM You can also
isolate fi ttings, for instance
individual keel bolts, using
plasticine or Blu-Tack and
seeing where the water pools.

HOSE The fi rst step is a visual
check – remove any headlinings
from your suspect fi ttings
(checking, of course, for any
blackening or discolouration of
the plywood panels, which can
help) and look at the fi xings as
someone squirts a hose or throws
a bucketful of water over it.

This is just a brief overview of some techniques,

but we’d be interested to know what has worked

for you: let us know! Email [email protected]

COLOURED
WATER Another
method is to use
different coloured
waters, poured
from different
locations. Thus,
using a red-dyed
liquid from one
area and a blue
from another, you
can see that if
blue water ends up in the bilge,
then you’ve found the leaky fi tting.
It can take days for water to
emerge, so this is a slow process.

PRESSURE TESTING

Another solution is to pressurise

the inside of the boat by fi tting the

washboards and taping up any

gaps, before gently pressurising

the inside with a Hoover set to

‘blow’ or a foot pump. You can

then go round any suspect fi ttings

with a solution of soapy water, as

you’d check a bike tyre with a

pump, to see where air is exiting.

Mark Grimwade