Well, despite reattaching over half the deck to the hull, after two hours on the water this afternoon there was just as much water in the boat as usual.
Looks like I haven't found the source of the leak yet, so I will investigate further tomorrow.
Well, despite reattaching over half the deck to the hull, after two hours on the water this afternoon there was just as much water in the boat as usual.
Looks like I haven't found the source of the leak yet, so I will investigate further tomorrow.
Dave in West Oxfordshire
I was never a BBC reporter, but did work for BBC TV News for quite a few years in various roles (really).
Attack of a Swan swamps police patrol boat! fictional BBC reporter 😎
Glad you did a thorough examination of your model. I hope the repairs were not too difficult.
I have had my police boat on the water almost every week since I got it in early 2019. The motors have been changed a couple of times, and it has been a joy to sail.
In the last few weeks, I noticed that it was taking on between 20 & 80 ml of water during an hour or two's sailing. Recently, the quantity of water in the hull has been increasing (I remove it with a large syringe, so can see how much was in there), so I decided to check and seal the stern tubes and rudder tubes. Very little, if any, difference was noted.
This morning, I put the model on the bench to check the stern tubes again, when I noticed there was a slight gap between the hull and the deck. On further investigation, the deck was completely detached from the hull for the first third of the boat's length, and a further long split was spotted along one side in the rear third of the hull.
I suspect that the damage to the forward third was caused by my over-enthusiastic ice breaking, but the damage further back is probably the result of the boat being attacked by an angry swan last summer. I wasn't bothering the swan in any way, in fact my boat was simply sitting on the water and not underway when the swan raced across the water, half flying, half paddling and jumped on the model.
I thought I'd repaired all of the damage, but obviously not. The deck to hull joint may have been weakened by the swan and only recently separated, but I have now repaired it.
As the hull and the deck are both moulded from ABS I was able to use a solvent and simply applied drops by brush while holding the parts together.
I hope to sail the boat again tomorrow, and hopefully won't need to syringe the water out this time!
I have had my police boat on the water almost every week since I got it in early 2019. The motors have been changed a couple of times, and it has been a joy to sail.
In the last few weeks, I noticed that it was taking on between 20 & 80 ml of water during an hour or two's sailing. Recently, the quantity of water in the hull has been increasing (I remove it with a large syringe, so can see how much was in there), so I decided to check and seal the stern tubes and rudder tubes. Very little, if any, difference was noted.
This morning, I put the model on the bench to check the stern tubes again, when I noticed there was a slight gap between the hull and the deck. On further investigation, the deck was completely detached from the hull for the first third of the boat's length, and a further long split was spotted along one side in the rear third of the hull.
I suspect that the damage to the forward third was caused by my over-enthusiastic ice breaking, but the damage further back is probably the result of the boat being attacked by an angry swan last summer. I wasn't bothering the swan in any way, in fact my boat was simply sitting on the water and not underway when the swan raced across the water, half flying, half paddling and jumped on the model.
I thought I'd repaired all of the damage, but obviously not. The deck to hull joint may have been weakened by the swan and only recently separated, but I have now repaired it.
As the hull and the deck are both moulded from ABS I was able to use a solvent and simply applied drops by brush while holding the parts together.
I hope to sail the boat again tomorrow, and hopefully won't need to syringe the water out this time!
