Best way to find water leaks?

[Dave S]

Last night I got to thinking about that drip from the ceiling thru the bow rail cap that I really couldn't duplicate and I think I may have some other information to pass along about bow rail leaks. Maybe someone else can confirm this but after thinking about it last night I perceive there is a strong possibility for these things to leak and here is why. Look at the caps that go in to the headliner to cover the bolts

Now look at what these things look like when you remove them.

Underneath the headliner where the bolts are, there is a flat washer of sorts that serves as a backing plate for the three bolts that hold the railing on. But look carefully and you will also see there is a hole right in the center of this plate.

That hole is there to hold the "christmas tree" that protrudes out of the cap. But in order for there to be enough room for the christmas tree to get pushed in, there must also be another hole drilled right in the decking in the center of the mounting bolts. Therefore, if the flange for the rail is not sealed all the way around, I am thinking you still run the potential for a leak right where this hole is regardless of whether there is caulking around the bolts or not.:wow: This may have been the source for my little water puddle below one of these caps. I did seal the flange with some silicone along the edges so if that was the source of the leak here then maybe it wont reoccur. Just the same rebedding bow rails may take a bit more care then just removing a bolt and shooting some caulking down the hole. Just thought I would pass along this observation.

 

[Four Suns]

If there is water getting into that Christmas tree hole, that could be a long term problem as I would bet there is coring in that area. If that core sees water, the fiberglass will delamanate from it causing a big issue later in life.

 

[Dave S]

On mine Gary, that particular mounting is right at a curved section of the upper deck so I wonder if there is any wood coring right there. :smt017

But you do make a good point and it would be really good to know how the factory seals this area when they mount the rails.

 

[jg300da]

Pertaining to the windows, one thing I noticed that if you open the window by turning those black levers counterclockwise, you are in effect loosening that phillips head screw in the center. One time my wife turned it counterclockwise to open and counterclockwise when she closed it so there was almost no pressure of the window against the seal. The next day it rained and leaked. There should be enough friction in the screw to prevent its turning but that's not the case on either of my boats.

 

[Four Suns]

You might want to put a little loc-tite on those screws if they are coming out... I have not had that problem... which is odd since I seem to have every problem that comes up.

 

[Dave S]

Those adjusting screws are all extremely loose so locktite is probably a good idea. But it may be best to remove the whole closer tab first and do the adjusting screw lock-tite thingy on a table. With my luck if I try to remove the screws without removing the closer mechanism, I would probably drop one or more of them behind the cabinets and not be able to retrieve them. :smt043

 

[Nehalennia]

I'm with Gary, I bet it's the portholes. The 260 I am looking at had a trickle leak on the port side porthole above the cabinet you showed (nice presentation with the bread plate by the way~ I know it's SeaRay's version)

 

[Tacoma290]

Dave, Todd, and Gary:

Timing is everything, and the timing here sucked for me. If only I had read your posts a few weeks ago!!!

I spent all last week dealing with exactly the same issue (water at lowest point of the cabin floor), with exactly the same source/solution (leaks at the porthole, tighten friction screws).

Unfortunately, over a weeks time the problem become a big mess. I was away to Disneyworld the previous week and we had some rains in WA. After finding its way down behind the galley cabinet, the water filled up the entire storage area (almost 2-inches) below the head cabinet, and overflowed onto the floor... And sat for a week... So I also had the issue of mildew to deal with.

So the moral of the story is to double-check portholes, read all the posts on this great site, and mentally file the lessons away.

I may post the way I dealt with the mildew elsewhere. Except for two pillows, I've been successful.

 

[shrike]

you might try to make it "rain" for a few hours, while you sit inside feeling and watching for moisture?

 

[Dave S]

It rained last night.........................and my leak(s) isn't fixed.:smt021

It doesn't appear the windows leaked nor the stanchion I fixed. This time the carpet is dry but there was 1/8 inch of water in the area where the shower sump sits. The last time the sump area was dry while the cabin carpet was wet :smt017. Of course the boat was on a trailer the last time too and angled back a bit and now it is sitting perfectly level on a stand. :smt101

Anyways, the dealer will have a look at it. They suspect I may have another stanchion leaking.

 

[Four Suns]

Welcome to boating...

 

[At Ease]

Dave, Todd, and Gary:

Timing is everything, and the timing here sucked for me. If only I had read your posts a few weeks ago!!!

I spent all last week dealing with exactly the same issue (water at lowest point of the cabin floor), with exactly the same source/solution (leaks at the porthole, tighten friction screws).

Unfortunately, over a weeks time the problem become a big mess. I was away to Disneyworld the previous week and we had some rains in WA. After finding its way down behind the galley cabinet, the water filled up the entire storage area (almost 2-inches) below the head cabinet, and overflowed onto the floor... And sat for a week... So I also had the issue of mildew to deal with.

So the moral of the story is to double-check portholes, read all the posts on this great site, and mentally file the lessons away.

I may post the way I dealt with the mildew elsewhere. Except for two pillows, I've been successful.

Having lived in the Tacoma area for 10 plus years, leaks up there are definitely magnified. Sorry to hear about the pillows.

 

[Robski97]

Those window latches are called flipper dogs...... I had to replace two of them and thats what Bomar calls them... Oh and the bolt is called a DOG BOLT.... More worthless info.... Personally window latch works.

Water leaks on my 26 were due to no caulking around the storage area built into the stb side helm. ( leaked into the sleeping berth underneath ) No bedding material around my rail stantions and nav lights. ( leaked onto the v berth ) On my current boat the portlight completely failed and leaked . Was easy to see as it was in the head. Opening the window showed all the rust between the two parts of the portlight. No bedding between the outside section of portlight and the hull was the culprit....

Rob


Rob

 

[Newbie]

Dave, I have the exact same prob with mine. It seems every time it rains, my shower bilge and or carpet gets wet. I'm getting ill about it now as my carpet is stiff and discolored now. I'm just waiting for mildew to be the next prob. My boat is about 300 miles from the dealer too as it is in the water at Smith Mountain Lake so I will be dealing with this on my own, for now.
My guess if for the windshield mounting screws. Even with the canvas up, water runs along the inside of the winshield on both sides and eventually runs out near the end of the windshields rake. There seems to be way too much water getting in to be something small like a bow rail etc. I would imagine its coming from an area that has lots of water running along a path such as the windshield because it doesn't take much rain for the water to appear in the bilge. I would imagine the headliner would be stained by now if it was a bow rail since there is so much water down there. I have never taken one apart, but I wonder if water could be coming in around the port window ext. flanges where it meets the FG? I'm sure they are supposed to be sealed in some way. I sure wish my boat wasnt 3 hrs away so I could see how wet everything is now with last nights and todays rain, guess I'll find out Sat. SB

 

[Dave S]

Dave, I have the exact same prob with mine. It seems every time it rains, my shower bilge and or carpet gets wet. I'm getting ill about it now as my carpet is stiff and discolored now. I'm just waiting for mildew to be the next prob. My boat is about 300 miles from the dealer too as it is in the water at Smith Mountain Lake so I will be dealing with this on my own, for now.
My guess if for the windshield mounting screws. Even with the canvas up, water runs along the inside of the winshield on both sides and eventually runs out near the end of the windshields rake. There seems to be way too much water getting in to be something small like a bow rail etc. I would imagine its coming from an area that has lots of water running along a path such as the windshield because it doesn't take much rain for the water to appear in the bilge. I would imagine the headliner would be stained by now if it was a bow rail since there is so much water down there. I have never taken one apart, but I wonder if water could be coming in around the port window ext. flanges where it meets the FG? I'm sure they are supposed to be sealed in some way. I sure wish my boat wasnt 3 hrs away so I could see how wet everything is now with last nights and todays rain, guess I'll find out Sat. SB

Did you check all your windows? Mine really leaked badly so I thought for sure that was the main culprit but they were bone dry today.
.
As far as the windshield goes, it is screwed on in such a fashion that the screw holes probably are not getting wet. The windsheild frame sits in an L-shaped channel with the screws going into the upper vertical part of the "L" on the fiberglass. Look at your windshield with the center sectioned opened so you can see what I mean. Like wise if you were using your mooring cover and still had leaks, then that probably rules out the windsheild or leaky snap fittings on the deck too since the mooring cover goes over all that stuff when snapped in place. But water could leak around the windshield wiper opening too or the Sirius Satellite Antenna so try those areas as well

You may have bow rail stanchion leaks. The head liner is vinyl so if the water is running down the inside of the hull the vinyl will not be stained. Dry out your bilge area and then try running a hose around each stanchion one at a time and check the bilge to see if water begins to appear. If it does, then you know that one or more of the stanchions is the culprit. I think this is what they will find on mine. I probably have more than the one I identified and fixed that is leaking.

I will post back here what they find so maybe that will help you out as well.

 

[Nehalennia]

Dave
I'm sorry. I understand your plight but I'm not sure if I can honestly pray for rain for your lakes to fill up if you don't get your leaking boat fixed.
I mean with water restrictions you may not even be able to run a garden hose to test your fix? :huh:

Seriously though, hopefully it all irons out; you find your leak and the rains return like our "Flood watch" we have here today.

 

[Dave S]

This is my final Report............I hope.:smt043

The dealer diligently tested every possible place water could leak and they found nothing.:wow: Everything stayed bone dry in the cabin and in the sump bilge area. They even pulled off the panels in the mid cabin that allows them to see right up into the hull and shower area on the starboard side and there was no signs of water anywhere on that side of the boat.

So we had a discussion on where the water in the shower bilge area may have come from and here is what we theorized. The boat had been resting on a trailer when I went thru my own leak detection scenarios and as you recall I was able to fix the ones I found. I know I checked the sump bilge area when I was done with that and it was bone dry. But then they moved the boat off the trailer and put it on a stand. Then it rained and it was after that rain that I found water in the bilge. Then the dealer did his own checking for leaks as I described above and found nothing. Given all that we assumed water may have been trapped some where in a hidden cavity in the cabin area and the process of moving the boat off the trailer onto a stand may have caused that water to migrate down to the bilge area. I suggested they pick the boat up again with the fork lift and see if by tilting it they could dislodge any other water that may have been trapped. They did that and nothing showed up. Last night we had about 2/10ths of an inch of rain again and I checked the bilge this AM and everything is still dry. So I am hoping we have this figured out and there are no more leaks.:smt038

It's supposed to rain again today a bit harder than yesterday so I will check it one more time and make sure it's dry. I have my fingers crossed. Looking for water leaks is no fun at all.:smt009

Dave

 

[Big Al]

......Given all that we assumed water may have been trapped some where in a hidden cavity in the cabin area and the process of moving the boat off the trailer onto a stand may have caused that water to migrate down to the bilge area. ...
Dave

Hope you solved the problem...However, I would think that riding the boat would have the same effect or worse in moving trapped water to bilge area.

 

[Dave S]

Hope you solved the problem...However, I would think that riding the boat would have the same effect or worse in moving trapped water to bilge area.

You are probably right Al but my boat has always been under a covered dock and not exposed to rain until just recently when it was pulled out of the water and was dry docked outside. So the problem didn't show up until it was exposed to the elements in dry dock.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Dave,

Do you recall if there were strong winds associated with the rain conditions when the boat leaked? In my case we did have heavy rain and strong winds on the times we got water in the shower sump.
Henry