Gary, I am starting to wonder if perhaps I was taking water occasionally through the pendant hole and just didn't notice. I did get quite a splash through it when I raised the centerboard the last time we were out.
I might have been a little quicker to mention this...sorry I was not really following the thread. When I first got and sailed my 17 I had a similar issue with yours. Though I am still not 100% sure what was at issue..... One day I found a substantial amount of water in the boat while sailing. I had three or four adults aboard that day and my 17 will take water into the cockpit just through the cockpit drains being lower in the water. This is not normally an issue except in cold weather sailing. I bought two normal rubber drain plugs that slow this condition down a lot. But that same day I had solid water sloshing over the sole inside. The bilge pump sorted it out in seconds, but had me wondering. I was not sure if all was related or not. I now know that they are not.
Turns out .....many sailing days later while Daphne was below looking for something whilst sailing hard to wind on a big pressure day. Water was gushing and spurting out of the pendant blowhole with the motion of the boat. Still not sure if that is how we acquired all the water before....but ever since then we bundle and tie an old towel around the pendant to cover the blowhole and have never had any amount of H2O accumulation since. Cheers, Tim D. M17 369 "Papa Uniform Foxtrot Foxtrot" Kelowna BC <Sailed on Tuesday with pure sun and 65 F . Fine (and appreciated) conditions for around here in late October.>