water in the hole

[Charles1952]

Hello, I have had a few experiences that i will probably share here but this one was certainly one that was not expected.

I had bought a Corbin 39 four years before and tried it as much as i could in bad weather on a lake. Lake St-Louis to be more precise in Montreal Quebec Canada. On summer, thunderstorms can get quite choppy with short nasty waves, to me this was part of a trial for larger adventures.

Two summer ago my wife Anne-Marie and I decided to go down the St lawrence toward Tadoussac and Gaspe peninsula.

All was fine for quite a while until we hit real bad waves. While we had the wind on our back going est, i went down and open the floor plank to see how dry the boat was..... bloody hell we were sinking.... the water was just below the plank. Where the hell is this water coming from.... I traced it back to under the front bunk... further investigvation while sinking lead me to the front chain compartment.... I opended it and there was no water in it just wet stuff. I removed everything to find out a two inches hole on the bottom where the anchor chain went thru. For some reason instead of using a side bulkeahd between the two compartments the previous owner had made a hole an bolted the chain under the front bunk????/ Why i will never know. I was lucky to have a number of wood plugs of various sizes... a few minutes later with a good hammer all was well..... we went back the next day with greater sea for tests.... two years later the plug is still there and working fine.

Just to let you know that even after a few years sea trials are still going on. while you sail in various conditions you find new weaknesses that need correction.

sail safe

Charles