Took my recently acquired P-18 out this week and had a blast. I have two questions--sorry if they're too elementary!

1) Is it normal for a hull to take on a little water during a day's outing (one or two quarts), or should they be totally bone dry every time?

2) OK,life vest over or under trap harness? (Told you they were dumb questions! :-)

Thanks,

Kevin
Clearwater, Florida

Actually not that dumb:

most boats do take on a little water but obviously the goal is for them to be bone dry at the end of the day. A quart or two is not a serious amount and you will find that the rougher the weather, the more water intrusion you will get. If it were my boat, I would try and figure out where it was coming from to make sure that it is not a precurser to a more serious problem.

There is a bit of a debate regarding life jacket over or under trap harness. They are designed to go under your life jacket but I do know of some people that put them over top so that they will be easier to get out of. I prefer comfort and put the life vest over the harness. David with Team Weathermark remarked to me a couple of weeks ago that he puts the straps of his trapeze harness through the arm holes in his life vest - it keeps the vest from riding up and hitting his chin.

Thanks for the reply. Regarding taking on water, I took the boat out a month ago and had about a quart in each hull. This week, I cranked on the hull drain plugs before launching and had no water at all in one hull but 2 quarts or so in the other. I'm not sure if the drain plug is the connection of if it's some other factor...

Guess it's time to break out the straw and soapy water. (Or is there some better way?)

Kevin

shop vacuum cleaner attached in reverse (so it blows) into the hulls through an inspection port - you don't want too much pressure. Use a bottle of soapy water to find the leaks.

For safety, one should put the harness on the outside....in case it gets hung up on something, or you cant un-hook, you can simply egress from your harness without having to get out of your lifejacket....

my 2 cents

I'm another newbie like you - just got a good condition Nacra 5.2 and had water in the hulls too. Unfortunately nowhere near the little amount you had. Set it in the boat yard for a few days to let it dry out, then got under it. The Marine Tex patches put on by the previous owner looked ok but a little proding/tapping on them quickly showed where the drops of water still in the hull were located. Digging out the patch filler I found a hole of 1 inch long and almost 1/8 wide - ya get lots of water leaking in that even with the patch stuff sort of over it. Always wanted a water ballasted Nacra! I'm going to do some fiberglass work over them and seal tight and hope that solves my leak problem. Like you I too redid the hull plugs just in case.

Just a quick suggestion to calk around the bridle and shroud anchors where they come through the hull. These areas open up a little and can let a little water in.

Regards,
Mike