Leak in aft cabin on floor-97 400DA?

EKM

EKM

Active Member
Feb 4, 2007
674
Beach Haven, NJ
Boat Info
2000 420AC
Engines
Cummins 6CTA
Just had the carpets cleaned and boat interior was looking great. Hooked up the water system, put the boat in the water, big storm hits....stain on floor of aft cabin (all the way in the stern on the port side) approx 4" x 4" stain. Nothing on the vertical carpeted section so it looks like it leaked from the bottom. The stain is no longer wet (but stained).

So what is back there to leak? Reconnected the icemaker which is somewhat above this.

What else is back there...ceiling above is fine.
Any thoughts??
Thanks for any guidance.
 
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Did you check the shower sumps in the floor just fwd of the aft cabin? Maybe they plugged up and overflowed. The water may then have ran back to there?
I too once turned the water system back on and FORGOT to reconnect the supply line to the ice maker and was wondering why this pink water was running down the port side of the cockpit floor. That supply line taps in at the cockpit sink which you might want to check also. I would suspect if it was a water system failure that the area would still be wet though as you have your water system on most of the time. Remember water flows to the lowest point so trace it back up taking all possible paths into consideration!
 
Ed -

Your water tank is "L" shaped and lives under the port and aft sections of the berth. This "L" design has lead to failures.

There is another possibility if you had also filled the water tank recently. If your boat was produced early on, there's a leak in the area of the fresh water tank overflow through-hull.

So if you fill too fast, or overfill the tank, or if the tank has a leak, water will fill the cavity under the berth and make it's way into the carpet.

There are access ports under the cushions for a quick look, but I'll almost guarantee that since your carpet is wet, you'll find water in the cavity. The first step is to dry it out, the next is to determine if it came from the tank itself, or higher up on the filler hose.

The plywood base under cushions comes out (unscrew) realitively easily to allow you to inspect the condition of the tank.
 
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Thanks for the replies....I did fill the water tank to overflow before I shut it off. I looked in the shower sump area...all good. There is an brown colored stain on the floor but it is dry at this point. I did not have time to try to clean it up. Hopefully it comes up and it is a water fill leak that flushed some dirt from the top of the tank area.

I will check out the sink and icemaker connections this weekend...maybe it ran down the water fill hose?

Ed
 
I did fill the water tank to overflow before I shut it off.
Click to expand...

Ding Ding Ding!

The filler hose and overfill fitting should be your #1 suspect. The stain probably isn't dirt, but the discoloration that occurs when carpet dries unevenly. Chances are good that it will come out.

I know of 3 400DA's which have suffered fractured water tanks. Two of those are members of this board, the third was a trade-in to a local dealer. I know of at least 4 400DA's that have this elusive water fill hose leak. Those boats are 97's.

To confirm if you have a tank issue or a fill hose issue, you'll need to remove the plywood cover. If you haven't used water since you filled the tank, the tank should still be full. If water is missing, you'll need to price out a new one. If the tank is full, but water is or has been surrounding it, then it's the filler hose.

At the minimum, get a flashlight and a philips head screwdriver. Remove the fwd, inboard access cover under the port cushion and take a look. That's where most of the water gathers. (the top of the tank is only inches from the plywood lid, so if you water ever got that high, you'd have your own indoor swimming pool)

The repair of the filler hose, as I see it, is to remove the fridge to gain access to the area where the overflow exits through the hull. In all this time, I still haven't gotten around to doing that. Shame on me. The coils on the fridge aren't accessible from the front, so I could kill two birds with one giant hassle of a stone...

In the meantime, the tank CAN be filled, just not OVER-filled. I shove the hose about 3 feet past the deck fitting to be safe, then fill slowly, making sure not to overfill.
 
A quick update to this. Today I took off one of the round white plastic access covers where the water tank is and peeked way down in there and noticed a quick connect coupler. Another think you might want to check out also. This was the rearmost access hole.
 
Water on carpet in aft cabin is from our faulty cracked L shaped tank that a previous owner attempted to repair with a load of epoxy. So very annoyed that this was not disclosed and obviously surveyor didn't tear apart the aft cabin to see it. Disappointed that these faulty tanks aren't the responsibility of Sea Ray. So all that being said, is there a repair or is it necessary to tear out the tank and spend the big bucks to fix it? I don't think there will be a fifth sea ray after this experience.
 
I'm 100% with you on this. My neighbor claims to have found someone who can use a "welding" process on HDPE to repair his cracked tank. I googled the process, and it seems legit. Use of the term "welding" sounded wrong to me, but there's plenty of discussion out there about it.

Something I find curious about this flaw is that I've never seen it in a post '97 model. I'd like to know what SeaRay changed.
 
Spoke to someone at Sea Ray and he mentioned knowing of ONE other 1997 400DA with a cracked tank. Appears from posts there are LOTS of them. Will look for reputable plastic welder in RI to make this repair. Manufacturer of tank wants $1100 to make a new one and then there will be shipping charges and installation. Why would I buy another one from the people who made this piece of junk?
 
I'm not sure we can blame the tank mfr yet, right? Later 400DA's still had the L tank, but aren't prone to leaking, so I wonder if the tank changed, or if SR changed the way they were installed. This isn't the first time I've heard "suspicious" claims from a SR rep.
 
Hello - this is my first post but have been reading for quite some time... I have a 2000 400DA (hull 525) and the water tank currently has at least one leak. The leak I do know about is at the top of the inside "L" corner where the top plate intersects with the walls. The tank leaks when full and just over 3/4 full. When it does leak it fills the tank cavity up with water then flows out onto the carpeted area. Dura Cast who made the Sea Ray tanks is building me another at a non delivered cost of $1056; it will be read for me to pickup next week (I live 50 miles from them). In disassembling the seat area (which was very easy) I noticed the tank (full at the time) was "bulging" quite extensively at the top and appeared to stress that inside corner area significantly; I can easily see why this area failed. In discussion with Dura Cast regarding repairs they stated repairs are successful in flat areas of the tank structure but in transition areas (corners) repairs are not reliable. All repairs are plastic welds; glues and adhesives are not effective for the material used in the tanks.

To remove the tank requires not only the seat top to be removed but also the back and forward nailers for the plywood which in the case of the forward requires the carpet to be peeled back; not a big deal in any case. You will need a couple of glass or access floor suction cups to lift the tank out and install the new tank.

In review of the failure - I would never fill the tank to an over flow condition and subject it to that "bulging" stress. My plan is when the full indicator on the panel first flashes on terminate the fill.

I hope this helps - from the school of hard knocks...
 
Tom, so after two years with the new water tank how has it been? Mine is leaking now and I need to do something with it.

Pete
 
HDPE can indeed be "welded". In the landfill business, the liners are welded together at the seams and at any penetration. It's basically a heated coil of HDPE that is extruded in a molten form and bonds to the surfaces. Not unlike a hot glue gun.
 
peterkvs said:
Tom, so after two years with the new water tank how has it been? Mine is leaking now and I need to do something with it.

Pete
Click to expand...
Hi Pete
no issues to date. I'm careful not to fill full and stress that inside corner. One thing I probably didn't mention was I put those interlocking garage floor mats under the tank to give it a better cushion to set on rather than that rough hard uneven fiberglass decking.
Tom
 
Thanks. I'm going to try and weld it first. I'll take some photos of the work and write a post. Maybe it will last.

Pete
 
Anyone try welding it? Did it work? Just noticed my aft cabin floor wet after I filled my fresh water tank to spend a week on a mooring. What about Flex Seal? :). Don’t really want to replace this thing if I can fix it.
 
I had luck welding it and then built a brace over the tank to keep it from "ballooning" and working that corner again. It can be done in the aft cabin but lifting the tank up out of that compartment is a real trick. I was able to get some large zip ties slid under and used them as handles. Its usually the inside corner at the top. I NEVER top the tank off or leave the hose filling it unattended.
 
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