zonda twin with water leakage

[Johnc]

On my zonda 41inch carbon twin, after running I'm getting a significant amount of water in the hull, checked water lines for each motor and esc (duel water pickups for each) for leakage (none)

Pulled strut screws out and used silicone sealant behind, thinking that's were water is coming from (seamed like water was on the port side only)

Low and behold it did not fix the the water problem.

So, what I did is put the boat in the sink, filled it up with water and found out the leakage is coming from the where the rudder attaches to the hull. Have not been able to determined if it's just the bolts or a bit of separation of the hull and topside.

If there is separation at that point of the hull and top gunnel, how in the world can I fix that? It's so fricken tight to get too from the inside, like to cf'd it and make it good "but"

What I'm thinking, removing rudder mount, clamping top and bottom tight and dripping cf resin with a kitchen thingy with the boat upright (only problem is the bolt threads getting plugged with the resin)

Any other idea's are welcome.

John

[Panchothedog]

Take some small pieces of paper towel, twist them so they fit snugly into the holes, then remove them and coat the ends with Vaseline or axle grease stick them back in the holes and repair as you described above. After everything has dried they pull out easily. You might have to clean up a little with a drill bit of the same size as the original hole. I have used this method several times with good success.

[fweasel]

Start by just using some sealant on the rudder mounting bolts that hold the rudder to the hull. the holes may have been drilled too big and it could be an easy fix. If you're having difficulty getting the nuts back on from the inside, you can press them into the end of a piece of oversized silicone tube and use it like an extension socket to get it started on the threads before switching to a standard socket.

If you come to the conclusion that the hull seam has been compromised in that area, you can pull the rudder, tape the mounting holes from the outside, and fill the inside of the rudder standoff area with epoxy and chopped carbon fiber (or fiber glass). If the hardware is difficult to access (haven't worked on that hull in a while, I don't recall), you can install blind nuts on the inside before pouring the epoxy. I coat the threads with anti-seize to keep the epoxy from glueing the bolts in place. What you're left with is essentially four threaded holes in the back of the hull and you don't have to bother with threading on nuts and washers from the inside. This method comes in handy on hulls with incredibly shallow deck heights, like the Genesis for example.

[Johnc]

Thanks for the tips from the both of you.