dagger board slot/trunk

1978 boat has not been the water for about 2 years. it has a little water in the hulls, which i write off to year round, outside storage in wisconsin.
in going over the boat at the shop, preparing to sail, i noticed water dripping from the bottom of the port dagger trunk. upon inspection, the bottom seam looks separated and had gravel in there. i wedged it apart a bit and with custom tool and long air gun, cleaned particulate out of there.
i understand the procedure to use vacuum to suck epoxy into this seam, from outside in. my point/question is; Is there a product that will displace remaining water, etch the glass, and prepare it for solid adhesion of epoxy?
there seems to still be contaminant in the seam, and after good cleaning, the water, still is dripping, albeit very little/slowly, it is still in there.

No product that I know of. Have you tried draining and thoroughly drying out the hulls and/or flipping them upside down? I would hope that would let the seam dry out for adhesion. Aside from that, Epoxy seems to bond pretty well without much surface prep. I almost wish it didn't! I've got a few spots on my decks where the epoxy got on the gel coat from my first soft spot repair. Doesn't seem to be any way to get it off without chiseling and sanding, but I'd rather not beat scrape up the gel coat. Likewise inside the hull - the epoxy soaked through some under-saturated glass and covered the bottom of my hull. Only way to get it out is with a dremmel tool!

Point is, I don't think you need to worry about the epoxy bonding the surfaces together. Dry it/clean it out as well as you can, and then just go for it! It's tough stuff!

_________________
Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238

Put the H18 on a trailer, open the ports and the plugs, go for a drive at 60 mph for 40 minutes....
that's the best method I know of to dry out the hulls.

Other methods include mounting a PC Fan (or fans) inside and let them run overnight.
If you can Mcygver a fire proof stand, use some light bulbs overnight.
We have left the hulls in the sun for a few days...
any other ideas, folks?

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

I have to say, I love having rear access ports. By the time I get home after every sail, my hulls are pretty well dried out. Beyond that, they're great for inspecting the hulls, adding crossbar reinforcement, extra storage space, or my personal favorite: bottleports. http://www.bottleport.com/

Honestly though, I think that's really the best way to dry the hulls out. I think they should've been standard on the Hobie 18. I've heard of some people affixing cowlings to their hull ports when not in use to force air in and vent the hulls. One day I'll figure out how, lol. In the absence of additional hull ports, I think trailering with the ports open and plugs out or blowing fans into the hull is the best bet.

Also, in addition to the leak in the dagger trunk seams, check the hull ports. My boat used to have the pop in style, which leaked horrendously. I replaced them with the screw-in style, but they're still by far my biggest source of water in my hulls, if not the only source. Dry clothing goes into the fat bags, and the come out wet. Murray's sells some better gaskets for them, which I think has helped. I left my boat in the water for a week earlier this summer (sailing most days), and by the end had maybe 1-3 cups of water in one and <1 cup in the other.