Water in Hull of Hunter 23

[philip607]

Hello all, just got my first Hunter (1986 23) this season and all the info on this site has been extremely useful. I have read through all the topics on water under the floor boards but still haven't solved the problem. There is a hole drilled through the forward most floor pan with a black wire coming through attached to one of the keel bolts (assuming its a ground connection), and water is now constantly streaming through this hole into the floor pan. This is the only leak as the keel bolts are not leaking and seem tight. When the boat is rocked back and forth at the dock you can hear water in the hull sloshing around. Would water most llikely get into the hull from a poor keel connection to the hull? Or would water from a deck leak be able to enter the hull as well?

 

[isaksp00]

I have a '91 H23 - may be similar. I suspect the black wire is the ground wire from the mast (if I recall, the upper end is attached to the bolts that hold the deck mast fitting) to the keel. Follow it up to see if it is, and maybe water is coming in along that wire?

If you can hear sloshing, it seems like there is some open volume. Is there water under the cockpit, in the large "bilge" area? In any of the storage compartments under the bench cushions? I have had water enter the "bilge" when the scupper at the aft end of the cockpit floor got blocked with leaves, rain then filled the cockpit until it leaked in through (I suspect, at least) the round access hatch in the gas tank area. This was while on the trailer. When I purchased it, bilge had about 4 inches of water at the deepest, and water had entered the aftmost storage bin on the stbd side (the one under the quarter berth that is furthest aft). Had to pump it out.

 

[Brian M H23]

The water lays inside the fiberglass "Stringers" as well as under the fiberglass cabin sole under the step. I drilled a horizontal hole in the aft-most keel bolt well and found all the water. How it gets there? leaky side windows, leaky hatch, leaky hull/deck joint, leaky stantions, leaky cockpit drain hose (in the lazarette) , leaky anchor locker drain hole, leaky front hatch, leaky mooring pin up by the bow.

 

[philip607]

Thanks for the replies and info. We haven't had alot of rain here so I was guessing that the water is coming in from underneath somewhere. Is it possible for water to enter under the cabin floor (under the keel bolt wells) through the keel/hull joint? When it started, it only leaked when I took the boat out on the water. When it stayed in the slip it didn't leak, but now water is streaming in constantly through the hole drilled for the mast ground connection to the keel bolt. There's no water under the cockpit in the "bilge" area and I've checked the hoses previously mentioned. Brian M, how large of a hole did you drill? Did you pump the water out that way?

 

[peptobysmol]

Thanks for the replies and info. We haven't had alot of rain here so I was guessing that the water is coming in from underneath somewhere. Is it possible for water to enter under the cabin floor (under the keel bolt wells) through the keel/hull joint? When it started, it only leaked when I took the boat out on the water. When it stayed in the slip it didn't leak, but now water is streaming in constantly through the hole drilled for the mast ground connection to the keel bolt. There's no water under the cockpit in the "bilge" area and I've checked the hoses previously mentioned. Brian M, how large of a hole did you drill? Did you pump the water out that way?

Sounds like you need to put it on the trailer and inspect the hull. There's streaming and then there's Streaming. Do you have to use a bilge pump on it? If its not coming from the cockpit drain tube, Streaming water sounds bad. Is there ever an end to the streaming?
It's not uncommon for a fairly large amount of water to be trapped under the cabin sole pan. Water will "stream" into the "bilge" areas until it is emptied. When we get a hard rain here I get some water in the bilge area. Sometimes it takes 10 - 15 mins to get the water out since you have to wait for it to enter the keel bolt areas.