mysterious leak

mortyd

.
Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
a mysterious leak. during the winter, while my boat is on the hard, the bilge fills up, eventually kiling my battery via my hard-wired bilge pump. my v berth and my cabin sole carpet remain dry, but my boatyard needs to keep an eye on the boat all winter. my best guess is that the water is coming thru my hollow mast, but all expl;anations and solutions are welcome. i am tired of dead batteries in the spring. thanks.
 
Sep 23, 2009
1,475
O'Day 34-At Last Rock Hall, Md
Mast, deck leaks, or scuppers in that order. For ten bucks, why don't you add a garboard drain plug? Easy to do and cheap insurance.
 

mortyd

.
Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
thanks, but i have a catalina 30 with an open stern - no scuppers, and like i said there is no leak in the cabin except in the bilge, so far. if i had a deck leak the sole and or the v berth would be wet.
 
Oct 9, 2008
1,739
Bristol 29.9 Dana Point
Your mast is deck stepped. No path for water, except the step bolts which is unlikely, especially considering the volume.
I would check the base of the helm pedestal. Also portlights, and in particular, the forward hatch. Those forward hatches are notorious leakers. If your vberth insert is out, water can flow right down.
Try hosing the boat, including suspect areas. Then check the interior.

Edit:
Or, maybe there's no leak. If the batteries are not on a charger, they might be dead anyway after sitting all winter.
The bilge water might be just from months of condensation. Or combined with a leak that gets part of the interior wet after a rain, but then has dried by the time the boat is inspected again.
 
Last edited:
Sep 23, 2009
1,475
O'Day 34-At Last Rock Hall, Md
Not so fast partner....if you have a bilge pump, you have a bilge. To prevent water ffom literally flooding your interior while on the hard there should be a drain. Imagine a scupper or a portlight broke and all the rain water from the cockpit flowed into your bilge all winter. No battery could keep up with that. All batteries should be disconnected during off season for safety and a disconnected battery will lose only .1 or .2 volts over the winter.
Deck leaks can travel down the side away from their source. The water is getting in there somehow. If you can't be sure to stop it you are better off letting it drain.
 
Last edited:

mortyd

.
Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
probable solution. i've heard from a very skiled boat mechanic quite familiar with catalinas and he instantly diagnosed the problem as water coming from the anchor locker and that it's quite common to catalinas. he said i will just have to keep monitoring and pumpings the bilge.
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
try the garden hose test to see if you can make it leak
 

mortyd

.
Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
thanks, but tape is a mediocre method since i've never known it to survive long in the new york winter. but, thanks.
 
Jan 7, 2011
4,723
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
I used to pull my speedlog transducer in the winter on my Hunter 280 and leave it out in case I got a lot of water in the bilge. It was not low in the bilge, but below the floor boards, so if enough water was pouring it, it would drain before doing too much damage.

I have not checked for a similar option on my O'Day 322. And this boat has scuppers with drain hoses that run through the aft cabin (yikes!). I did buy a canvas cover to keep some of the snow, ice and rain off of her over the long Chicago winters though.

Greg
 
Mar 28, 2014
49
Catalina 30 Hyde Park NY
Gorilla tape is made by the same people that make the Gorilla glue.
I have used it here in the North East over the winter to seal around the mast/shrouds when covering and not removing the mast,
It Works!
 
  • Like
Likes: Jongleur
Jun 5, 2012
144
Catalina 30 mkI Victoria, British Columbia
When my Cat30 was on the hard over the winter a few years back I too had a leak into the cabin from the anchor locker. The boat sits at a different angle when on the stands and it was getting in at the top of the locker on the stbd side, then running down the V-berth side shelf and eventually making its way into the bilge.
I epoxied the area in the locker and the leak stopped.
I can also confirm that Gorilla brand tape will seal that locker lid for you over the winter no problem. I used it over some deck screw holes and to hold a couple things from blowing away. It was rained on for 5 months straight and stayed tight.
 
  • Like
Likes: Jongleur

gfroch

.
Jun 5, 2004
73
Catalina 30 Rochester, NY
I got water in the bilge, presumably where my wires go through the mast step. A good glob of silicone and no more water.
 
Jan 22, 2008
402
Catalina 380 16 Rochester NY
I have the same problem. I've never figured out where the water comes from. The mast through the conduit where the mast wiring runs? Through the anchor locker? Via the 2 vents in the back? Leaking 'back' into the boat via the shaft? The 1,001 leaks I've never been able to quite fix?

Got me. I check the boat through the winter, manually pump the bilge when I need to and try not to think about it.

Good luck. I do like the anchor theory, I've never looked into that one.

I've heard that you can cover the interior areas with powered chalk (like the stuff used for snapping chalk lines) and then soak the outside with a hose...you should be able to see water paths very easy then.
 

mortyd

.
Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
i have since had a chance to look at my anchor locker from the deck and it's not even close to water tight
Got me. I check the boat through the winter, manually pump the bilge when I need to and try not to think about it.

Good luck. I do like the anchor theory, I've never looked into that one.

I've heard that you can cover the interior areas with powered chalk (like the stuff used for snapping chalk lines) and then soak the outside with a hose...you should be able to see water paths very easy then.[/QUOTE]