Repair a leak

My old glass Fenn XT’s steering cable tube has pulled away from the rudder compartment. The boat takes on water, about a gallon for a 30-45 minute rough water paddle. I knew the dislocated tube was a possibility so I taped off the rudder cover on the deck to keep water from coming DOWN into the rudder compartment, but it still leaks. After months of unsuccessfully searching for the leak, I have finally realized water may be coming UP through the metal rudder shaft cylinder, into the rudder compartment, and eventually into the hull where plastic tube is missing. Is this likely? Could that much water go around a fairly tight fitting rudder shaft, in an upward direction (tail does go under water frequently), fill up the compartment and overflow into the small-ish cable hole? If so, what’s the easy fix, i.e. without major surgery? Thanks.

Mickey, to locate the exact leak source have you tried applying soapy water to the suspect area (a bubbly soap our bubble bath) and have a friend blow into the drain hole while looking for bubbles? I've used this to find a very small crack by my rudder shaft that I would have otherwise never located.

As for water traveling up the shaft, it's certainly possible. I'm always surprised how much water can come through a small hole in an hour.

Best of luck. We don't want you sinking on us!

I fix this all the time! Some skis you have to replace the tube and others you can re-attach the the rear end of the tube. Not something a lay person should attempt. I do not cut the ski open at all.

On the Fenn you I can re-attach the tubes as I know the tubes are still in good order, on other skis the tubes have deteriorated so have to replace them.
You will have to replace the steering cables as well.

Basically I sleeve the end of the tube with a tube that goes over the existing tubes 6mm diameter with a 10mm composite tube with a 6.2mm hole drilled in it.
I drill the existing hole in the ski to 10mm so the sleeve can through and then glue the inner tube to the outer tube and then epoxy the outer composite sleeve to the ski. All this is done with a S/S cable holding the inner tube in place.

Simple as!

The problem occurs when the tubes are installed under tension on a hot day, the tubes get soft and stretch a lot more than on a cold day, so when they get cold they shrink and if the tubes are to well attached they just pull out from the ends, generally the rear on a Fenn.

Thanks Ranga, I figured you would have a fix. I can imagine cutting the back cable and sliding a larger tube over it and sliding it towards the opening, but ithe larger tube would not fit through existing hole. You say drill the hole larger, but I can barely see the hole through the tight rudder compartment. I cannot put my fingers into the compartment and reach the hole, for example. How in the world would I drill it? Maybe my XT is so old the compartment is smaller? Another thought—Could I spray a little “great stuff” foam into front half of the small rudder compartment? I would try to keep it from expanding into the middle and back where rudder yoke rotates. The dried foam would not hold the cables very long, so cables would still slide. Thought is foam would keep water out of open hole. Prob too hard to keep foam from expanding to the yoke, but just thinking. Thanks.

Ah, yes! You have an old XT which has a small square fiberglass cover with the four screws. Not possible to drill the holes from the outside, they are too deep inside the well.
I have done a few of those but ultimately you will have to cut a section out of the deck just in front of the rudder well. Just about the only way to do it. Forget about expanding foam and such, just does not work.
However you could do is just cut the rudder well opening up to the exact size of the well, this will give you all the space you require. Yes you will have a much bigger opening but you can just use duck tape to close it up or just leave it open, it is an old ski so the easiest option I would think. You could ultimately make a small cover, bigger than the existing one, if you are concerned about looks.
Hope this helps you.

Change of plan. I realized I had another old XT with same dislodged steering cable tube and it does not leak. I finally found the leak in one of the footwell drain holes. It is apparently in the top part of the drain hole, though not clearly visible. I popped the cone on hull off so I have full access. Should I fill the hole with marine-tex with overflow flanges on both ends? Then drill it slightly smaller than current diameter? Then try to figure out how to re-attach cone. Thanks

Something I did a while ago on my old XT. pretty easy. The blog post is in french but the pictures are self explanatory. Hope this helps.
tuaruavaa.blogspot.com/2008/05/modificat...e-safran-sur-un.html

Ranga, what is easiest way to repair a leak around one of the 2 foot well drain holes?

I was thinking of packing the ~2cm long metal cylinder that goes through the hull with MarineTex (2 part putty). I would let it overflow on both ends, making a flange or lip onto the glass to make sure the putty covers where metal and glass meet (which is where the leak surely is, not in the metal itself). Then after curing, drilling a hole through the metal cylinder, maybe a little narrower than it was before to ensure I do not drill away the part that is stopping the leak. No big deal if it drains a little slower. Then I can epoxy the cone to the bottom of the hull.

Is there an easier way?

Most of the putty used will be drilled away doing this method (almost all the putty packed into the cylinder), so should I just cover both ends, then drill through?

Hiro, thanks for the pics. I have 2 XT's that need new tubes, so that looks like the best way to do it.
Thanks.

I took my XT to Eva Hollman "The Board Lady". Look her up, pretty dam impressive. Anyway, my XT had a leak at the venturi. She had (many) an ingenious solution. She created VERY low negative pressure inside the ski with a vacuum and sucked (very slowly) polyurethane sealant, like 3M 5200, into the crack. I was impressed. Too bad the ski was full of sand and the repair didn't take. She was over me, well mostly my ski, after that and had to fix it myself. Had to dig a little deeper into project after emptying several cups of sand and rinsing inside of ski. You know I enlarged and cleaned up the venturis. They sure drained better after. Afraid I'm looking at similar repairs again. My XT keeps gaining weight.
Also Marcus, You can blow a little pressure in the ski then plug the hole by yourself. With a slow leak allows time to search with soapy water bottle. Bigger leaks should be pretty obvious.

I have had some drain holes with dud epoxy and had to remove the scupper and make a 50mm hole on the hull to repair and then I have had ones that have just come apart from the skins. There is a huge range of solutions for supposedly the same leak.

Easiest one is to block the bottom hole inside the scupper and fill the hole in the footwell with a runny epoxy, the epoxy will wick into the crack (can suck through the bung hole to pull the epoxy into the crack if need be), and then when hard just re-drill the hole filled with epoxy. This works if the damage is new and dry.

Sometimes I have to open the hole a little and add fiberglasss the the hole around the outside of the hole, ( I use strands of fiberglass and feed it into the hole until fully circling the hole) this helps the epoxy not to run away if the crack is too big.

Have even used the SS tube insert option before as well.

I have also drilled a few 2mm holes around the hole from the footwell side to just short of the hull and then filled the epoxy into those holes, also allowing the epoxy to wick into the crack.

So as you can see a myriad of solutions for the same damage.

Thanks, Ranga. Leak is new and dry. I had a wipeout in surf zone that rattled the boat, pulling steering cable loose (that I originally asked about) and loosening Venturi. I will block bottom and fill from top. I assume runny means instead of 1 part liquid to 1 part putty, I use 2 or 3 parts liquid hardener. Since the steering tube is dislodged, I don’t think I will be getting any sucking action. But I think simply covering the top and inside of Venturi with epoxy will seal the microscopic leak. Thanks so much for your help.

mickeyA, do not change the epoxy mix ratio. follow directions. It will not cure right.
Polyester resin allows you to vary amount of hardener to adjust cure time.
I think what Ranga means is do not thicken the resin with cabasyl. You can thin epoxy with toluene, I believe. It will weaken the resin a bit though. There are so called "penetrating" epoxies that are very runny/thin.

www.epoxycraft.com/thinning-epoxy-best-p...y-west-system-epoxy/

Yes, never alter the resin ratio of epoxy. I use West system 105, plenty runny enough to wick into the cracks, if not thin enough just use a hair dryer to warm the area and the epoxy will get runnier (cold epoxy is thicker than warm). Don't use the quick set stuff, they are generally quite thick and are not very strong.
I usually leave the scupper in place and plug it up with something that I can just pull out when epoxy is hard, but if the scupper is loose it is easier to do without one.

Ranga said; "I usually leave the scupper in place and plug it up with something that I can just pull out when epoxy is hard". Plumbers putty is a good example.