Need help with boat repair

[Abuelo]

Hope someone on this site might be able to offer a solution to repair problem.

Refurbishing an old wood sailing dingy. Have a leak someplace on the dagger board box. Don't really want to rebuild the box so looking for possible solutions to seal the inside of the box.

Slot for the dagger board is 5/8" x 15-1/2". Depth of board is approx. 12". Plan at the moment is to seal inside of box and where it joins the hull with fiberglass.

Looking for suggestions on how best to remove old paint/varnish inside of box and ideas on how to fill seams and coat inside of box with fiberglass.

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Thanks.

[PAR]

Unfortunately there aren't any easy ways to deal with your issues.

Center and daggerboard cases are well known for leaking. Well designed cases can be fairly easily removed, repaired, rebedded and put back in the boat for several years continued service. Poorly designed cases have to be nearly destroyed to remove them.

The moment you introduce 'glass to the case, you'll have to tear it up pretty good to make any future repairs or maintenance.

If it's a plank over frame build, the case will likely disassemble reasonably easily. Most often these are bolted or lagged to the keel batten. Removing these fasteners you can just lift the case out, disassemble, repair, reassemble and rebed.

It's next to imposable to apply a fabric sheathing ('glass) to the inside of a case while it's assembled, especially if still in the boat.

It's also next to imposable to seal leaks by smearing a goo (like 3M 5200) around the base of the case, where it meats the keel batten or hull shell. Water will just force it's way through and now you'll have to remove the goo as well as the case to get at the problem.

Scrape around the base of the daggerboard case and you'll find some screw or bolt heads, possibly covered with bunks. Remove the bungs, clean out the fastener slots and remove the fasteners. Remove anything attached to the case, like a thwart or air chamber, then the case should be removable. It'll be fairly well stuck with bedding, so wiggle it and you'll notice it's coming loose. A razor to cut the goo free from the bottom of the case is handy.

The front and back of the case will likely have a solid wood post. The sides of the case will be screwed to these posts. At the bottom of the case there'll be a piece on each side we call "logs" which act as bearing surfaces for the fasteners. These will also be screwed to the posts and sides.

Once the case is off, it should be obvious what's wrong. In most cases all you have to do is scrape off the old bedding, clean this surface, apply new bedding (3M 101 is best), then fasten it back down.

Of course pictures would help considerably, but this is the basics for you.