snipe rpairing centerboard case

Hi everybody and sorry for my english.
I have recently bought and old snipe and the centerboard case must have some little craks because when I sail for a while there is a lot of water inside the boat.
¿How can I repair it? The hole is very narrow to work with fiber and resine.
¿There is a way to open anywhere a hole to have acces to the centerboard case from inside?

 

Based on past experience, the trick is to repair the outside of the hull, not from just inside.
Often the water will be getting in thru a crack near the centrboard.

I would sand back the paint from the *outside* of the hull about .5 metre from every edge of the centreboard, and as far up the centreboard case as you can go.
I find a 'powerfile' easiest for narrow centreboard cases.
Then fibreglass and epoxy the whole surface, and as far up the centreboard case as you can reach, finish and paint.

Feel free to tidy up the inside, but not until the water has been stopped from the outside.

 

I think you would like to say .05 m. Sanding back 50 cm would be too much.
I don't understarnd what's a 'powerfile' is.

 

Any old centerboard boat that leaks should be thoroughly examined ro determine if the case should be rebuilt or at least removed rather than just sealed from the bottom. If you want to sail through the season, then do what you must, but after that you should, if feasable, have an experienced wooden boat carpenter look at it.
Also, nothing is going to stick to damp wood for long, and that case is probably going to take a while to dry out anyway. That means fiberglassing is out of the picture until a couple of weeks after the boat's out of the water (and that all depends on whether you've sanded the wood bare wherever you're working and the local humidity).
A centerboard case on an old Snipe could be boards and not plywood, depending on how old it is. The Snipe goes way back, so you should check.
Quick fixes are fine if they don't prevent the proper fix later.
Is the case plywood? Are the screws just puttied on the hull's underside, or is the bottom glassed? Is it possible to dismantle the case (do you see the screws on the side of the case).


Alan

 

No, the boat is fiberglass made and it's imposible to remove the case. Another solution can be opening a hole in the deck and work from inside, what do you think?
Thak you for your answers.

 

Okay... old but not ancient. You realy need to pinpoint the leak. Can you provide some photos also?
Could the pivot bolt be the source?

A.

 

Sanding back

No - I really meant 1/2 metre. use say 6oz cloth or lighter, with epoxy.

The reason I say that is I had a leaking centreboard on a mirror dinghly, and the plywood had a fine crack running from the bow - and it wasnt till I epoxied right along the crack that the centrboard stopped leaking. Fibreglass can develop these cracks too.

The other reason for the large area around the centrboard, is that you could use a good support hold the flexing centrecase solid, especially if the exisiting hull is a bit suspect. Epoxying a large area means that you get a lot of strength around a flexible high stress area, and you can get a nice smooth bump free shape on the bottom of the hull. The little extra cost in materials means you dont have to worry about small patches working loose and perhaps being ineffective.

A powerfile is a small belt driven sanding tool. It has about a foot long narrow tongue that can reach into tight spaces - like up the middle of a centreboard case. Sand back to a solid surface and make sure the fibreglass cloth reaches about a foot into the inside of the case. You will have to sand a nice curve where the opening to the case joins the hull, so the cloth will stay stuck to the hull, and not bunch up.