Time to start work on figuring out why the case is leaking and why the surveyor had concerns about the integrity of the wooden casing. This is what he wrote in his report, a copy of which I have been given:
On examination of the casing, there is no indication of leakage through into the bilge compartments of the vessel, all areas are seen well painted, dry and clean. The casing is found generally well fitted still and without obvious movement. There are no areas of soft timber that can be fully determined without further opening up.
However, soundings of the plywood cladding gave dull returns which are indicative of degraded timber that might exist within the original casing boards; beyond the thickness of the added plywood cladding.
We had already been advised by Tony Smith that there is a leak in the region of the centreboard case, it is just not obvious.
The first place to start is the removal of the two metal plates through which the pivot bolt passes. These are held in place by what turned out to be stainless steel screws which came out easily.
The plate itself had to be prised off and underneath the plate was a white sealant.
The same was found for the other side of the case. The wood under the sealant came off in layers like you would expect of plywood, except it seemed to be solid mahogany or similar. It did not come off easily and had to be removed with a chisel.
And that makes quite a mess !
I decided to take another look at what prevented the centreplate from being removed from under the hull by putting my camera on the case looking down through the slot. This is the result:
So, I had briefly entertained the notion that the issue with the case could be easily located and solved, but now that I’ve seen this obstruction more closely and noted the fact that it seems to have made a gauge on the inside of the case, I have not choice but to remove the starboard side of the case so that I can access this damage, asses and repair it.
If the damage was caused by the centerplate removal then I would not have expected so much damage to be caused unless, as I mention in the video, the wood was already soft i that area or possibly rotten.
I’ll cut away a section of the timber in that area, perhaps a foot wide and from the bottom of the case to the top of the side panel. This will give me a large enough area to see how far down the damage goes and will also allow me to examine the wood on the other side of the slot.
I’ll make the cut as carefully as possible in such a way that the replacement isn’t going to be an odd shape. Or no more odd than is normal for a boat, but that’s a task for another day.
Definitely time for a cup of tea.