Apology accepted, Philip. I do understand Quirkster's frustration.
Returning to Tidalwave's original question:
TIDALWAVE wrote:
Has any one ever determined why some hulls get more water than others?
One explanation is noted by Yakaholic who wrote:
I think if you oiled the "o" ring w/ the proper lube, make sure it is seated and free of dirt and closed the hatch it would not leak. Until the next time you open the hatch - which twists the "o" ring and gets dirt on the seal.
My wife goes out in same conditions as me but never opens her T&S hatches, which have been properly detwisted, oiled, cleaned and sealed. She never gets water in her hull.
There are some obvious factors: (1)
if you have a leak or leaks, the more time on the water, the more water you take on. I've been on short trips (1-2 hrs) and taken on little water. (2)
if conditions are such that water is not regularly washing over your "leak site," you will take on little water. (3)
Leaks may develop around fittings. So, as users, we do need to check things and tighten things up--it is called "maintenance" (careful, that is an 11-letter word around me.)
I remember one trip where we tacked into 16-18 mph winds for 4-5 hrs. The 3 of us had 1-3 gal of water in our hulls. On the return after a couple days, running before the same wind with the bow being forced under water regularly, I took on very little water. The return trip took about 2 hrs.
Then, there are use-specific problems. Those of us, who camp in S FL, are hassled by raccoons. These beasts insist on doing their partying all over the upper surface of our hulls every night. They particularly like the T&S hatches for dances--a duet on the center and rear hatches is a favorite. Consequently, after one night out, our hatches are covered with sand, which inevitably gets into the seal.
Fishermen, who are in the habit of chucking their catch into the center T&S hatch, will have scales and slime all over the place. That center hatch is going to leak badly.
Darwinian, since you do not apparently have leaks, or do not open your T&S hatches regularly, or sail in conditions that will make leaks effective,
you have not tried to pressurize your hull. That is not as simple a task as it may seem. Fortunately, there are other ways to check for leaks. At the same time, we would like not to have to set up some contraption to check for leaks before every trip.
Keith