My 111 is really, really wet...

[George Dewey]

I did a slightly offshore race, about 5 hours in a moderate sea state, and we got quite a lot of water in through the bowsprite. There is a small locker across from the head, right below the end of the sprit and everything in there was drenched. Looking at the thing in the anchor locker, its not clear to me how to replace the seal. Is the seal just sandwiched between the two halves of this white block thats screwed together? These pics were taken from inside the anchor locker. It will be tricky to get some of those screws out.

 

[Roleur]

How does water find its way from outside the boat and through that seal when there is a 5" gap in the sprit tube?  

Are you sure the water isn't entering through the tip of the sprit and out the open aft end?  

If the seal was the issue the water would end up at the forward v-berth bulkhead, not the across from the head, no?  

We taped the aft end of our sprit, almost all the way to the top.  High enough water can't get out, but allow some air in there so hopefully it dries out, assuming it doesn't just drain out the front.  

 

[George Dewey]

Are you sure the water isn't entering through the tip of the sprit and out the open aft end?  

If the seal was the issue the water would end up at the forward v-berth bulkhead, not the across from the head, no?  

Well the guys told me they saw water running along the outside of the sprite, and draining off the end of it. But that's a great point; still, if this was happening then there would also be water in the vee berth as well. There might be, there is no platform so any water entering there would end up in the bilge. I wonder how much water can get into the end of the sprite. I'll try taping it up as you said, and I'll have a look at the outboard end. I don't recall there being a big hole there though. 

 

[Goblew]

I have had the same problems.  My mast partners look just like yours.  Mine go flush to the metal top, but they need to be cleaned of any residue and lubricated so they can slide into the steel mast collar.  I have a boot to then cover it and tape that up each season (I take mast out each winter).  I still get some water down the mast, but mostly I think it is from rain water entering the halyard entries.

For the bow sprit, I found the interior collars had come loose due to poor quality of sealant material or workmanship.  I completely removed the bowsprit (not such a big a job as you may think) and resealed these internal collars with 5200.  That seemed to do the trick.  The second thing I did was to seal the endcap on the bowsprit which stopped water from coming down inside the bowsprit.  

Keeping those rear hatch drain holes clear is a routine maintenance item.

 

[George Dewey]

We even made a cover to put over the sprit for really rough upwind races as well as sealing the anchor locker with Sikaflex (collects lots of water in big seas).

Are you sure the water isn't entering through the tip of the sprit and out the open aft end?

We taped the aft end of our sprit, almost all the way to the top. High enough water can't get out, but allow some air in there so hopefully it dries out, assuming it doesn't just drain out the front.

Many other issues fixed, but now I'm fighting this one. We just had two 33nm races, in big wind and seas, and each day, the crew reported water pouring out of the aft end of the sprit "like a faucet." We manually pumped out a lot of water during the second race, since the bilge pump is useless when we're healed 20 degrees.

So apparently, water is getting into the front end of the sprit. That makes sense, there are four holes: Two for low friction rings for tack lines, one for a dyneema loop for the CZ and one for the bobstay, which retracts into the sprit.

If not for the bobstay I could just shove a rubber ball in there. So there are a few possible fixes:

1 - Seal the aft end as @Roleur said. My concern about that is that the sprit will fill up, and that will add a lot of weight forward when the sprit is extended. I don't know if it would drain back out as we pitch or if it will just sit in the pole.

2 - Make a cap to put over the front of the sprit while it's retracted as @Blur said he did. Peter, how did you do that? I found some ~4.25 inch vinyl caps, but there is always one and sometimes two tack lines rigged. Did you just find a slightly bigger stretchy cap, or was it something fancy?

 

[Blur]

2 - Make a cap to put over the front of the sprit while it's retracted as @Blur said he did. Peter, how did you do that? I found some ~4.25 inch vinyl caps, but there is always one and sometimes two tack lines rigged. Did you just find a slightly bigger stretchy cap, or was it something fancy?

I made mine out of sprayhood material with a bungee cord to hold it in place. Wide enough to cover tacklines and most of the area where it enters the hull.

 

[kinardly]

Does this problem affect all sprit quipped J models? Wondering whether a J 130 would be similarly affected.

 

[slug zitski]

Thanks everyone.

Does this look right, or should those partners be pushed down closer to the deck? (I have no idea why it's upside down and couldn't figure out how to rotate it).

View attachment 461857

Hard to say

Partners tend to work out as the mast moves

They should be restrained

On big boat it’s spartite .. perhaps not practical on small boats

 

[George Dewey]

I made mine out of sprayhood material with a bungee cord to hold it in place. Wide enough to cover tacklines and most of the area where it enters the hull.

View attachment 579327

Thanks Peter, that looks like just the ticket.

Do you not use a bobstay? It looks like you have a hole for one near the bow knuckle.

 

[George Dewey]

On big boat it’s spartite .. perhaps not practical on small boats

J Boats actually told me that using partners on my J/111 would void the warranty. They said I'm supposed to use Spartite. My hull is out of warranty anyhow, but I need to have the stick pulled soon, and when it goes back in I'll use Spartite.

 

[Marty Gingras]

“Partners” is the hole in the deck.

 

[slug zitski]

J Boats actually told me that using partners on my J/111 would void the warranty. They said I'm supposed to use Spartite. My hull is out of warranty anyhow, but I need to have the stick pulled soon, and when it goes back in I'll use Spartite.

Sometimes on small boats you pull the mast several times a year

If the mast partners and the mast walls are not parallel , you have a difficult time pulling the mast with molded spartite blocking

In addition some small boats like to be able to move the mast in the partners to induce different profile of mast bend …if the wedging is spartite you can’t

 

[longy]

I have had to fair the inside of mast partners to get a smooth tapered profile to allow for spartite plugs to be removed on some installs

 

[Blur]

Thanks Peter, that looks like just the ticket.

Do you not use a bobstay? It looks like you have a hole for one near the bow knuckle.

We do. But usually remove it when we're not racing.

 

[George Dewey]

We do. But usually remove it when we're not racing.

Does it retract into the bowsprite? That's why I'm having trouble sealing up that pole, because there is a bonstay running into the front of it. If not for that I would just stuff a rubber ball into the pole.

 

[pqbon]

We used an external bungee take up on our bobstay.

IIRC it ran from the center of the bobstay back to a stanchion base.