tail light and leaks

Eric Johnson (eric@theftnet.net)
Wed, 28 Oct 1998 11:11:48 -0800


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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I pulled my P19 from the marina the other day and its in my driveway. We had
a huge rainshower yesterday (extreme even by seattle standards) so I went
inside to catalog deck leaks. I found many. Sheesh I wish the factory had
heard of polysulfide when they built my boat. This is a huge pet peeve of
mine and i have repaired leaks as I have found them, but this was the first
time I tried to make a comprehensive survey of the leaks.

ALL the chainplates were leaking (must be coming in under the deckplate they
poke through, because I sealed the actual slot the stick through), the cabin
ladder supports, the curtainrods (!), one of the keel blocks I had
previously bedded, one of the hand rails, etc. Leaks I had previously
attributed to the deck/hull joint turned out to be from these sources.

The worst leak by far was the sternlight. Water was literally pouring in.
I've got a couple ideas on how to seal it up, but it has always annoyed me,
because it sticks up in an otherwise smooth part of the decking above the
transom, and its metal housing gets very hot when in use, and people tend to
burn themselves when coming up the boarding ladder after a late night swim.

I'm trying to think of a good place to relocate it. The sternlights that
mount flush against the transom seem like a decent way to go, because it
will be far less susceptible to leaks (the transom stays relatively dry when
it rains), and less likely for someone to grab at it and get burnt. But I'm
afraid that with the boarding ladder, rudder, and motor there, it will be
shaded even worse than it is now.

Any thoughts?