Little water in the cabin in ruff seas.

[spikeitaudi]

So we where coming home from our trip after 2 days and coming home in 3-5 foot seas with 20mph winds wasn't to fun, but the boat handled it well. After an 1hr of running with the seas and finally docking back at our home port we opened the cabin door and noticed a bit of water on the port side in the mid-cabin and the walkway into the midcabin. It was water from the outside for sure as I did a taste test and it was salty. So the question I have is the only place where I can think of where this water could come from is the rubrails or the through hole fitting for the cabin sink fixture. My guess would be the rubrail. Anybody else have had this issue or any other ideas where I can look. If it is the rubrail how easy it is to seal it. Just get some 4200 or silcone and go to it? Do I need to take the rubrail off the silcon it?

Sorry no pics as I was in a bit of a rush to get off the boat lastnight after our vaca to get home. And yes the windows where shut tight so no entry of water from there.

Thank you all.

 

[Captain Quest]

I have posed a lot of water leak questions on this forum so I am not pretending to be the voice of experience. I had many water leaks & was able to fix them all over time with a lot of help from some great people here. Even though mine is a 340 many of the same fixes apply

If its the rub rail the water mostly runs down the screws to inside the cabin. Sealing the edge will not fix it. I took firstly the trim off with the outer layer of screws, then the actual rub rail screws & removed the rail. I went up between the deck to hull seam, cleaned out the old caulking & reinstalled the rub rail sealing all the (stainless only)screws one by one. After that you will have no leaks from the rub rail because then the water cannot run down the screws even if it gets behind the rail. Sealing it from the outside can actually cause more issues as it builds a trap for the water especially when some seal the top & bottom. The screws are the entry point for water

I also had water leaking in the porthole windows, again it was going behind the outer trim & leaking where the actual window was sealed to the boat. There were also hidden cracks in the plexiglass which couldn't be detected until the trim was removed. Fortunately I found brand new ones from Searayman on E bay for $48.00 each & that fixed four more leaks

The other task was to remove the side windows scrape off the old caulking & re seal them. As things are right now it can pour rain or we can be out in rough water & there are no leaks anywhere

I would stay away from 4200 as it is semi permanent, hard to work with & hard to remove afterwards. I would recommend.....and this came straight from Rusty Higgins who was building, sealing & gel coating Sea rays back in the 80's & 90's, GE UV silicone from home depot. It is soft & very easy to work with & Rusty told me its the equivalent of what they used when they built them.

One trick in finding leaks is to start at the lowest point with the hose, check for leaks & keep working upwards checking the area before moving the hose to another location

It has been a real trial for me fixing all those leaks & if it wasn't for all the awesome folk here I would still have many of them

Good luck with yours

 

[fwebster]

On a boat like the '06 240DA, the leak is more than likely an unsealed or dogged hatch or port light or a leaking screw in the windshield attaching channel. The oval port lights dog shut and the dogs are adjustable. As the port gaskets shrink over a few winters the dogs may look closed, but the plexiglass may not be pressing against the gasket hard enough to form a seal. Press each one around its perimeter and see if the gasket flexes. If it does, just loosen the dog jam nut and tighten the fastener. Same process is true for the hatches.....be sure the dogs are holding them against the gaskets.

On the windshield, water can enter the track or channel at the bottom of the frame and move about eventually leaking thru a loose or unsealed screw.
once inside, the water can run anywhere before it appears in the cabin, which makes this leak difficult to pinpoint. The fix is quite easy, but takes some time. Pull out the bottom screw cover being careful not to stretch it. Then remove each screw, one at a time, and fill the screw hole in the deck with silicone then reinsert and tighten the screw. Do only one screw at a time so as to not disturb the windshield.

 

[Bucit]

Not to hijak the thread but I had a similar situation this wekend. Coming back home from a great weekend in Sarasota we hot some pretty big waves for a rough two hour ride. When I got home and put the boat on the lift I looked into my bilge and was suprised to see 3-5 gallons of water down there. I have no idea where it came from?

 

[spikeitaudi]

Interesting notes all. Looks like I will have to do more investigative work. It looks like the panel on the port side of the midcabin can be removed. Should I try to remove and see what the back of of looks like first as it seems like that is close to the area?

 

[Dave S]

I have had a number of water leaks with my 260DA. Most recently I had a leak at the hull to deck joint on the starboard side that required re-sealing. I had been getting (a little) water in the bilge for quite some time and after I finally found where the water was coming in Sea Ray actually covered the repair even thought my boat is 6 years old. So a hull to deck joint leak is a possibility but I would only look for that as a last resort. There are many other places for water to come in as well. Several years ago I started this thread on water leaks which you may want to read http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/5575-Best-way-to-find-water-leaks?highlight=water .

One other thing worth mentioning about the 240DA. I recall seeing a couple of threads several years ago about mounting issues with A/C unit condensate pan on 240DA's that didn't allow them to drain completely. Water would accumulate in the pan and then spill out while underway. Since you mentioned water in the mid-cabin and the A/C is mounted in that area you may want to check that out as well.

Dave

 

[spikeitaudi]

Thanks Dave. Will look out for that for sure.