Leak under starboard bench

[Nemchono]

SCAMP #82, "Forever Young" built by Paul Breeding, found her way to me in Santa Cruz, CA a year ago. She is my first boat and has already brought me and my family immeasurable fun and joy, and lessons learned, naturally. So far I've rigged the reefing system, twice. Second time was on the new boom I made after breaking the first one. Great experience, learned a lot, perhaps the best thing was discovering Le Tonkenois varnish. Thirteen coats on some VG Doug fir looks amazing. To cut to the chase,
I've been taking her out sailing and rowing often and have noticed a leak which I believe is coming up from the centerboard case, but I am not sure and am curious to know if anyone can provide some insight.

The severity of the leak is relative to the conditions, and happens only when sailing, not when rowing. The more pressure on the centerboard from heeling over the worse the leak. It comes from above the centerboard pin but I can't identify exactly the source. Say I'm sitting at the helm port side with my foot against the edge of the starboard bench on a port tack in a good wind, I will feel little drops of water occasionally sliding down the underside of the bench and onto my toes. I believe it happens on both tacks. This water drips on the inside of the bench as well and accumulates in the starboard compartment, perhaps half a liter after few hours of hard sailing.

I don't know exactly how the centerboard case is constructed so I can't envision exactly where the leak may be coming from, but I have what I believe is a reasonable guess. Somehow water is entering the boat level with the underside of the starboard bench and subsequently dripping down into the hull. It's not a big deal so far, and the leak adds character to the boat i.e. Farley Mowatt's The Boat Who Wouldn't Float, but I imagine this could slowly, or quickly, become a larger problem and I plan to address it.

The boat is plywood coated in epoxy with fiberglass overlying the seams. I've built many surfboards and feel comfortable doing carpentry and fiberglass/epoxy work. The next step I anticipate is pulling the top off the starboard bench, basically do some digging. I hope to get some insight into what I might find in there via responses to this post. In the meantime I'm gonna keep sailing her because I'm in love with sailing and in love with this boat. Her first overnight adventure is coming up in two weeks when I plan to take her up for a few days of cruising in Tomales Bay. It would be nice in the future to have a dry starboard stowage area, not to mention a sound centerboard case, which I assume is the culprit.

Thanks for reading and providing any insight. Enjoy these recent photos of Froyo in her element.

Cheers,
Dan

[Nemchono]

Pretty confident I identified the leak. Planning to put some thickened epoxy to fill the seam and a few layers of six oz glass over top, should add strength and prevent water ingress. I'll follow up after I'm done with the results.

[Nemchono]

Well I dried and sanded and then slapped some thickened epoxy and fiberglass in this open seam along the aft starboard centerboard case and voila, no more leak.

[DavidSW]

Thank for sharing this info.