Our rain collector works by channeling all the water that falls on the deck into a series of pipes that take it towards our rain tank. They promote the waters flow in the general direction of the tank, but sadly, most of the water is ending up in the bilge!
This is simply due to the internal structure of the hose itself. There are small ridges inside the hose to help give it strength, which also serve as a passageway for water to slip past barb fittings. On the way to the tank, there exists a Y which is leading to all of these problems.
I have tried wrapping the barbs in a lot of teflon tape, but this only slowed the leak which persisted. I then decided to address this issue in a more drastic manner: bedding compound!
I liberally applied polysulfide bedding compound to both the inside lumen of the hose and to the outside of the barb fittings. This should seal up any little gaps that might remain inside the hose and preclude any water from escaping.
There are many options for bedding compounds, but I decided on polysulfide thanks to its love of water. Polyurethane bedding compounds need to be dry as they cure, and can take a while to cure as well. Polysulfide actually cures faster when exposed to moisture, allowing it to be applied to a leak in your hull underwater! Way too much bedding compound was applied in hopes of fully and finally sealing up this junction that connects each half of the deck into one hose that leads to the rain tank.
Once this material begins to cure, I will be able to test it out and see if it finally sealed up the leaks in this connection and will allow me to send all of the water collected into the rain tank rather than discarding it into the bilge.
