Center board Pin

[David Weible]

My centerboard pin drips until it has filled the well it sits in up over the pin then stops leaking. I would like to know if this happens to anyone else's pearson and is it a problem worth fixing before the bahamas.

[Harris]

My does the same thing David however, it is full when I first drop the boat in the water after a hull out but after about a day or two I can dry it out and it stays that way until I use the board again. At one time I did have it dried out and it stayed that way all summer, board up or down. Not sure what to make of it but I have have had many emails about this same thing.

Harris
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[Mec]

My P-35 has the same problem as David and Harris however I"m not sure that the leak is from the center board pin or not. I placed baby powder over the area and found that the leak maybe from bottom of the CB well area. I have had this condition for 2 seasons and would like to remedy this problem. Please Help!

Mec

[Deborah Mitchell]

On Vagabond #167 my centerboard well - where the pipe housing is visible - sometimes fills with water.
It is fortunately fresh water. I have never really found where it originates, maybe from a deck fitting.
In all due respects, have you tasted the water you are concerned about?
Deborah

[Dan]

Does your vanity sink drain thru the hull? If not, you may start there.

[Deborah Mitchell]

To answer your question, there is a seathingy under the dresser in the forepeak that drains through the hull.
I suspect when there is a very hard rain, water may come through the duraide box. It is a very rare occurrance when some water appears in the well under the centerboard pin. And as I wanted to say, it has never been salt water. That would immdiately alert me and indicate a leak .

[rstraebel]

I wonder if maybe the water isn't coming from the vent in the watertanks when the boat heels over. Just a wild guess.

[Bill]

Yep. Mine does the same thing. Although I have not tasted it it does appear to dry up after awhile after I anchor and I think I can see some salt crystals in the muck. As long as it doesn't get over the well where the pin is located I'm not going to panic.

I worry much more about rigging. I recently found some hairline fractures on the lower turnbuckles. You definately need to look them over VERY carefully once a month and spray them with a rust inhibitor.

[Caper]

My does same thing on port side well only, if I sail a lot with board down, it fills up an slowly trickles into the bilge. The leak is extremely slow. It bothers me a lot because I am using the space under floor to store canned goods in low profile boxes. Salt water splashing on cans makes a mess.
So I cleaned the well thoroughly sanded edges, cut piece of 1" foam to cover it and lightly fiberglassed it over. Installed 1/2"drain plug fitting to inspect it or pump it out. So far so good and I am dry.
I assume the bronze nipples holding the pin have some kind of flanges glassed in board case, it became lose due stress and time. It may cost seeping between layers of glass. Anybody try to fix it?
If someone had a pin out was there any wear on it, or enlargement of hole in centerboard? CAPER 36 years old Pearson 35 yawl

[rick]

I have the same problem and it is fresh water that comes from the fresh water tank vents. The vents terminate inside the hull and will allow over flow from a full tank to drain to the lowest spot, the centerboard pin well, when heeled over.

[aldbldr]

I have a small leak in my starboard side bilge amidship. Its where the centerboard pin is located. It isnt at the cap that covers the centerboard pivot pin but at the lowest part of the bilge in a small crack. what is funny is that it only fills up to the top of the bilge and stops. When it is pumped dry it fills back up about 1/2 of the way. After a couple more times it stops filling up , each time less and less. Then it will stay dry for a while and then one day it will be full again and the same pattern of pumping it out a few times will dry it out. It dosen't seem to be a leak that could sink the boat because it gets to a certain height and stops. Its as if some adjacent hidden chamber accumulates water and seeps into this bilge through a crack. My question is what the heck is happening?? how would I access a hidden void where this water is. It is fresh water not salty. It is a little disturbing to see a leak from the bottom of the bilge because it makes you think of the possibility of a hidden void damp and having blistering occurring from the inside out. And how do I fix it?

[johnmckinna]

Re: centerboard pin/well/assembly. My 1980 Pearson TERESA ANN has miniscule leaks in the pin/well area, and this area has in the past been subject to fiberglass reconstructive repair. FYI: my conclusion about this problematic area of the Pearson 35 is that it's basically the boat's Achilles' Heel....a design imperfection related to the bedding of the bronze cheekplates that hold the centerboard pin in place in fiberglass. This is not a perfect joint, and these materials are not compatible. Over time, the considerable stresses to which the board is subjected while at sea work this well/pin area, and particuarly the cheekplates, apart to a greater or lesser extent....sail the boat hard and small cracks will develop if you use the centerboard. I've dealt with this for a while now, and have noted it in virtually every other Pearson 35 I've seen, and while it shouldn't sink one's boat, I believe it bears watching and--occasionally--repairing. This would be an out-of-water chop-and-reglass project on the centerboard trunk, reserving the old bronze cheekplates to use again. It's basically a tradeoff: if you like the shallow-draft capability of the board, you pay the piper with an imperfectly engineered area of the the hull design. I know at least one owner who got fed up with the pin leaking, glassed in the centerboard slot, and sailed his Pearson 35 for years without the board. He might have lost a few points to windward on a beat and had to put up with some helm-balancing problems under certain conditions, but he didn't have to worry about the condition of the c-board trunk glass and pin. So it's all in what you can put up with. By the way, before you get too worried about a little bit of water that might be coming in around the pin area, ask yourself how much water the boat makes through the prop shaft stuffing box and the rudder post gland. When was the last time you checked the leakage on those? Especially the latter.

[paul9422]

Just to add my two cents to the discussion, if anyone is still interested:
I have had the same problem with water slowly collecting in the compartment below the center board pin, both on the starboard and port sides. After throughly emptying both sides, dumping two large pail-fulls of water, probably around 6 or 7 gallons, and then drying with rags and sponges, I was able to spot where the ingress of water was coming from. It wasn't from the pin, but from a tiny crack on the bottom and rear of the port compartment.
It was very slow but a steady flow. I think that as the depth of water increases in this compartment, the leak will slow due to the increased pressure from the the water in the compartment.
After a winter of sitting in the water in City Island NY, the level of water had reached the top of the compartment and was probably slowly flowing into the bilge, where my auto bilge pump was easily handling the small trickle.
I'm thinking of using some kind of plumbers epoxy and putting down a layer on the floor of the compartment. Mayber that will seal it sufficiently.
I love my boat, but I don't like the idea of water building up in these 2 compartments. I guess I could use them to hold live bait for fishing if all else fails.
Any other ideas out there?
Paul of City Island, NY