Cracks in prop "fin" housing

[bindschadler]

While bottom painting, we noticed water slowly weeping water from two short cracks in the fiberglass fin that holds the prop shaft. Yellow tape in the attached pic shows their locations. The cracks themselves may be how the water enters the fin. We are hoping this is not a serious issue. Can anyone confirm that this fin is added to the exterior of the hull during construction and is primarily a means to support the prop shaft and bearing?

PropFinCracks_1Sept2021_B.jpg (149.23 KiB) Viewed 685 times

Bob Bindschadler
Hallelujah! #145

[wolfe10]

I would contact Warren Pandy at Catalina, Largo, FL.

[bindschadler]

I had an excellent and informative conversation with Warren Pandy on this issue. He said that the propeller skeg IS part of the hull shell, but after the prop shaft is installed, the interior of the skeg is filled in with material so there should be no path for water to get through the skeg to the boat’s interior. The infill includes some chunks of material so it is possible that there are some voids in the skeg leaving the possibility that if water does enter the skeg it can fill in some of these voids and be difficult to remove. It appears this was our case; the water slowly dripped out, taking two weeks to eventually stop.