Trojan Boat Forum

oh boy...tis the season for fitting out and starting projects!

The last two seasons, I hunted for a slow leak on the transom of my mid cabin. I thought it was the trim tab mounting hardware, so i went to town on the fiberglass last year. I sanded, filled, epoxied until I thought for sure that there was no way water could be getting in. Well, last year that dang water was still seeping in.

This year, I decided to dig deeper. I removed the rudder and determined it was not coming in there. Then I saw some spider cracking. I got a little crazy and sanded deeper than I felt comfortable. Well, dang it, I found a void. This has to be it!

I repaired this with some West System Six Ten thickened epoxy resin and some matting. Tomorrow I will sand it down and see if it did the trick. These projects never end! Here's a picture of what I would assume is a defect from the factory. Dang air bubbles could be the death of me...



Oh and while i was at it, I installed some Lumitec Seablaze X lights! These things are gonna be sweet.

Those underwater lights are an awesome add to your good looking International!

Hope you found your issue.

The rudder design on the International will not allow ANY water intrusion, PERIOD.

Top bearing is above the water line.

Bottom is external to the boat.

my Lumitech lights arrived today !

5 Quattros

two each on the rudder covers, mounted vertically and one on the divers dream zinc mount = zero holes drilled in the hull !

RWS

oil&water wrote: ↑Mon May 07, 2018 6:07 am Those underwater lights are an awesome add to your good looking International!

Hope you found your issue.

Thank you! I'm pretty sure i solved my problem and I am excited to see these lights under water!

RWS wrote: ↑Tue May 08, 2018 3:17 pm The rudder design on the International will not allow ANY water intrusion, PERIOD.

Top bearing is above the water line.

Bottom is external to the boat.

my Lumitech lights arrived today !

5 Quattros

two each on the rudder covers, mounted vertically and one on the divers dream zinc mount = zero holes drilled in the hull !

RWS

RWS - I'm not sure if I was unclear in my post or if you just overlooked my discovery. The water intrusion was to the right of the starboard rudder. It appears to be a defect in the fiberglass. Take a look at the picture and you will see where i sanded and discovered a cavity.

As far as the design, there is still potential for water intrusion. For the sake of future readers, i'd like to clarify this. The rudder is held at the base by two bolts. Those bolts a bedded and sealed with 4200 or something similar. If that bedding fails, you can have water intrusion. Also, the rudder cover holes do go inside of the hull and need to be sealed as well.

Perhaps this is exclusive to the mid cabin design.

Post some pics of your lights when you get them installed!