I have a 1996 Catalina 320 and I keep getting water in the port side area under the bed. I have recaulked all the stanchions, the backup tiller access on deck and helm pedestal still no luck. Has anyone had this problem?
CATALINA 320- Water under rear berth
- Thread starter Breezey
- Start date
If it's under the rear berth other possible sources are a leaking muffler, at the bottom flange or drain plug usually. Also the rear water tank is lower than the front so if both tanks are full and both valves open, water will sometimes leak from cleaning port on top of rear tank.
The area is under the rear berth on port side and unfortunately the water doesn't drain to bilge for some reason. Perhaps a drain hole is plugged that leads to the bilge. I should have mentioned this it seems the water accumulates after a hard rain but I don't see any water lines running down the inside of the walls of the boat. I checked all stanchions to make sure they were tight. Perhaps I might just have to open all the boards in the rear berth during a hard rain and see if I can see where it is coming from. I thought someone might have had the same issue.
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Catalina's often have a problem where they don't have limber holes in the liner where it would be nice to drain a particular spot - in the C-30 under the settees is a common spot to have some water build up until the boat gets heeled under sail.
If it happens without taking the boat out: Open everything up, get it dried out. Then hose the crap out of the deck. Feel for wet - you'll likely find a leaking winch, stanchion, rail, deck joint, or some other fitting. May be condensation. May be freshwater from the tanks. You're in IL, which eliminates the 'taste it' test to see if it's seawater. (Unless your taste buds are good enough to discern lake water vs water tank/HWH water)
If it only happens after taking the boat out: Look at the rudder stuffing. On many Catalina's it's close enough to the waterline to leak under power when the boat is squatting if the stuffing is bad.
If it happens without taking the boat out: Open everything up, get it dried out. Then hose the crap out of the deck. Feel for wet - you'll likely find a leaking winch, stanchion, rail, deck joint, or some other fitting. May be condensation. May be freshwater from the tanks. You're in IL, which eliminates the 'taste it' test to see if it's seawater. (Unless your taste buds are good enough to discern lake water vs water tank/HWH water)
If it only happens after taking the boat out: Look at the rudder stuffing. On many Catalina's it's close enough to the waterline to leak under power when the boat is squatting if the stuffing is bad.
Thanks JE, in the spring after we take the cover off and before we launch it we are going to give it a good hosing on the deck to see if we can trace the problem. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack but I am determined to find it!
One idea that can work for locating leaks. If you can tape closed any thru hulls , and tent and seal the companionway with a large shop vac hose (or leaf blower) sealed in and blowing into the boat... Then you can go around the outside with soapy water and look for bubbles at any leaks. This sort of thing worked great on cars, when I used to fix them, and I've seen boat guys do the same thing on a larger scale.
Add a little Clorox to the tanks, just enough to give it a chlorinated taste. That will help testing, and its good for your water system as well.
Well one good thing we don't have a thru hull leak because the boat is now on its cradle for the winter with a cover over it to the waterline. We went to check on it yesterday and found about 2 cups of mostly clear water just a hunt of brown in the same place. It was frozen yesterday but today it got to 50 degrees so we were able to dry it up. We totally at a lost as to where the leak is from. Our next choice I guess is go down there if it rains again (hopefully before we get into the snowy season) and sit there and watch. I hate leaks!!
I had the same problem with water accumulating in the compartments under the aft bed on my 1994 Catalina 320 and eventually found 2 substantial leaks. One was the emergency tiller hatch behind the steering wheel (I completely replaced the circular hatch). The other was the seal on the propane tank "pan". This pan holds the tank and sits down into a recess in the hull. I removed the pan and rebedded it. Completely dry after doing these fixes ...… neither expensive, just took time.
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Thanks MIGuy for pointing us in the right direction. We found the hose for the drainage propane locker was leaking at the hose connection to the stern vent for the water to drain out. Once we put plumbers tape on it and tighten it --no water in hatch. YEAH! Thanks again everyone for your help!
