Since you mention that you spent a lot of time heeled over, my top suspect would be a leaky deck-hull joint.  I know that if I sail with a rail in the water, I’ll end up with water in the bilge.  I’ve never had anything close to 10 gallons in the bilge, but then I generally try to keep the rail out of the water.  If I bury the rail more than once in while, I figure that I’m past due for reefing.  Lowering the boom to its lower position will also help to keep the boat more upright, but I don’t like sailing with the boom lower.

I’d suggest the easiest way to investigate further would be to go sailing again on a day with less wind.  If, after a day of even-keeled sailing, the bilge is dry, you’ve found your problem.  If there’s still water in the bilge, then it’s time to suspect the centerboard gasket.  You might be able to confirm the centerboard gasket hypothesis by putting enough water into the boat to submerge the gasket, and see if water leaks out.

BTW, at present, I have no intention of fixing my deck-hull joint leak. It seems like too big a project for too small a problem.

Peter Nyberg
Coventry, CT
s/v Silverheels (1988/2016)

> On Sep 28, 2019, at 7:45 AM, Mitch Mitchell <mitchpadl at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Well, I bought my Rhodes 22 (1990) about a year ago and finally got it out
> for the first real sail yesterday. After reading Thomas's post I felt I had
> been wimping out waiting for the perfect conditions! anyway, the original
> forecast was 10 - 15 but of course it was a steady 20 with gusts higher.
> The boat sailed great (mostly with just the mainsail) however upon
> returning to the ramp and loading the boat back on the trailer I noticed
> the carpet wet in the cabin and pulled it back and looked in the sump area
> and it was full of water. After bailing about 10 gallons we took the boat
> home and now need to figure out the problem. Hopefully someone can direct
> me on how to troubleshoot. The boat was heeled over quite a bit for most of
> the time so wondering if water could have been forced through the sink
> drain and the other opening since I would imagine the hoses to those are
> dry rotted on the inside. Thanks for any suggestions! Mitch