Who was out this weekend?.....

I have started my leak hunting campaign on the 600 today. I have removed all the fittings apart from the bottom pintel (which i have replaced and rebedded once this year already), the loops that hold the racks down (which i will have to remove at some point to get the racks off to get at the ends fixed to the boat to rebed them), the plastic loops which the trapeze elastic goes through (which cant possibly be leaking because they go through solid laminate), and the eye on the bow for the forestay (same as the trapeze elastic loops). I have everything else off and in icecream tubs on my desk. I have cleaned the blocks and cleats in boiling water to get the salt off them (most of them are as old as the boat so it needed doing).

I've even taken the metal disk with the nipple which the mast steps onto off to rebed that, and then promptly started wishing i hadn't. Underneath it was all wet filler with mildew growing in it, and around the edge was a dodgy looking lot of gelcoat. Having investigated further it looks like the mast foot has been cracked up somehow and now my urge to have a nice shiny boat is making me want to take the hole thing off and rebuild it, which probably isnt necessary and will be far too much work so i'll have to think of a better way.

When i took the mainsheet block off and removed the sealent stuck to the deck a load of water ran out from that so i've found another possible source of the leak. And when i removed the stopper at the top of the daggerboard case there was a load of cracked up gelcoat hinting at something worse underneath. The worst bit is i can't get the boat into the garage anymore due to an excess of windsurfing kit demanding more racks to be built in the garage so now it's too narrow for the boat, even without the racks on the 600.

On the up side at least i have a good project for the winter.