Ceiling removal in vee bert and shows up during heavy ra

[seadaddler]

I have a leak in my vee berth on my 2007 H-36 and took as much as possible a part but need to take down the plastic ceiling part and the vinyl part at the hatch and can see many screws holding the plastic part.
Have not found leak but will have impossible time trying to rebed the stanchion.
Any one try removing the ceiling in this vee berth.
I have been spraying water hose and watching when raining for leak but no luck so must be very minor leak.

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

I know you have probably already ruled out the windlass since you have had previous leak there. Only ceiling I’ve removed has been the wood piece under the windlass. If you haven’t sealed around the windlass base, I would call with silicone or 5200. Mine flexes and when we haul anchor, sometimes there is forward pressure on the windlass base that flexes the fiberglass underneath and I have had a leak there before.

 

[Tipsynippertoo]

I saw someone with a 356 remove the soft lining in the main cabin....it is pushed into a groove to retain it. It can be teased out carefully without stretching it, and refitted with the edge of a credit card. Difficult to do without leaving witness marks.
We get a lot of condensation behind these panels, and the hard ones in the V berth......is it a leak or condensation?

 

[seadaddler]

Yes I have seen the removal of the material in the main cabin but in the vee berth looks very different and don’t want to damage it.
The leak is not from the windlass for sure and right on the port side of the vee berth onto the plastic part of the ceiling and only leaks very heavy rain here in rainy season and the leak is dirty like brown running down the corner above port cabinet in vee berth.
I may take photo’s and not only have the 2 piece wood covering windlass but removed the longer wood piece that goes port to starboard and with that removed I can see with flash light
Into the lip where leak collects and leaves dark satin water.
Photo’s to follow.
Nick

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

Good luck with it.

 

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[Dan_Y]

Nick,
Please post the photo. I have only pulld the plastic head liner to inspect the windlass from the vee berth.
Look close at the deck/hull seam in that area, which might be where your problem is. Dealer told me that leaks were common at the deck/hull seam. I fixed two so far. One leak was in the large aft port locker. I taped paper towels along the seam to isolate where the leaks were. I also stuff tissue in places looking for leaks. Even if it dries it looks/feels different. Per the Dealer, I cleaned the seam from the inside then applied a 1" wide layer of 5200 about 2ft long. The other leak was a few inches forward of the starboard chain plate, which I had tight access from inside. Besides a leaky seam, one of the rub rail screws had not been sealed and leaked. It was surprising to see how fast the water was dripping from the screw inside the boat when water was being run on the rub rail there.

I see another leak inside the port vee berth closet right above the bilge discharge port. Dark brown streaks down the hull liner, but it may be sea water from bumpy seas being forced up under the rubrail and through an unsealed screw hole. Can't access the seam there. May pull several rub rail screws in that area and recoat threads in a sealer and see if that helps. I'll start easy before pulling deck liner. I pulled the 356 assembly procedures from hunter and that padded hull liner in the vee berth is held on with adhesive. I assume its the same for the 36. I t

I have one of those flexible inspection cameras from the big box store. Works great to see above the headliner. I pull the fluorescent lights and put the inspection camera through the space and look around for deck penetrations.

I suspect there is another leak on my starboard side seam further aft of the chain plate because I'm starting to get small amounts of sea water coming out of the weep hole in the bilge that is under the refrigerator. But only happens on days with bumpy seas. Dan
Dan

 

[seadaddler]

I have taken the cabinet at the windlass and also took the windlass all part and replaced the windlass seal and bearing and totally resealed the windlass.
I took apart the some of the wood in vee berth to try and find leak in vee berth ceiling and decided to rebed portside cleat and stanchion and don’t anyleak at hull seam.

 

[Dan_Y]

Yikes! How did you get the cabinet top/shelf off? Was that glued on? Good idea to rebed parts you can now access. No signs of leaks around the hatch either I assume? Could you access/rebed the pulpit railing?
I was going to try the trick of closing the boat and using a leaf blower to blow in and pressurize the interior, then put soapy water on deck to look for bubbles. Maybe that's where you are at. Did you try spraying water at the hull along the bottom of the rub rail?

 

[seadaddler]

I had my wife spray with garden hose up top but not the rub rail,
the leak has to be higher because the water is collecting on the plastic ceiling and has lip at bottom and runs down ward and drips at corner over top of cabinet.
Screws in ceiling of cabinet and removed wood up at the windlass 3 pieces of wood forward around windlass.
Having hard time rebeding bow cleat need 2 person and bolts were cut after install making harder to remove bolts down under.
Getting help tomorrow with second person top side while I hope to
remove lower nuts holding bow cleat,by removing shelf from top
cabinet can get at stanchion in bow area

 

[Dan_Y]

Thanks and I'm rooting for you Nick. I'll be interested to know where the leak is if you find it. No doubt other h36 owners will want to know as well. Can you get as much force out of the water hose as you can from a FL downpour? Ha!
I wonder if you could dust the top plastic ceiling liner with powdered chalk to see where the drip from above first hits? No doubt the leak is somewhere else though and the water runs a little way on the underside of the deck first before dripping down on the plastic ceiling.

I'm seriously considering pulling the rub rail when on the hard this coming spring and epoxy any gaps in the seam and recaulk all screws and screw holes.

 

[Tipsynippertoo]

I had a similar problem with our 356, the water was leaking through the deck/hull joint somewhere fwd and running back along,

down, then over the portlight in the main cabin, this caused the wood to rot away. I also used a endoscope to find its source. But for me access would have been almost impossible to access the leak from the inside. So I took off the stainless capping strip on the rub rail, drilled holes at about 6" centers (I did the whole boat as I found leaks elsewhere) and used a compressed air caulk gun and low viscosity silicone to inject into the rub rail. Where there were leaks I found the silicone inside the flange (where I could actually get to it to see it).
I would pump silicone into one hole, move to the next and inject until it was forced out of the next hole along so I knew it was being really forced into the joint. (that is why you can see the silicone coming out)
Before I did this I used compressed air to force any water out of the area behind the rub rail.....a lot came out!
I had leaks in the sugar scoop join also.
Neil

 

[Tipsynippertoo]

On the interior I scarf joined a repair panel in and re-veneered. While I was there I decided I really didn't like the plastic window frame so fabricated one out of solid Teak & Teak veneer. I think it really lifts the quality of the boat. They were a sod to make, but worth it.
Neil

 

[seadaddler]

I am going to boat today and think with water hose would be good force but think it is such a small leak that constant heavy rain drips in.
I am going start with rebeding the bow cleat and stanchion close to vee berth and even anchor locker hinges and any stainless mounted in bow on port side for now and get boat set to enjoy some sailing with super great weatherI have been missing.
A friend got a smartphone enderscope and will use it to check any other possible leaks.
Nick

 

[Ken Cross]

I think sometimes a hose doesn't work because it takes too much time for water to find it's way in. Consider a small lawn sprinkler.

Ken

 

[Dan_Y]

Nice work Neil. The screws the hold the cap strip on my 36 goes through the hull. Looks like they saved screws doing it that way. I still see screws in your rub rail. Interesting idea and approach though.
Edit: Attached the deck bonding procedure for the 356. Now I understand why it would be difficult to pull the rub rail off. I like your approach even better now. ;-)

 

[Twille]

I am betting it is the sky lights. The seal on those breaks because of the un Even expansion contraction of acrylic vs fiberglass, It leaks in the edge of the acrylic runs down the inside of the liner and falls out far away. I have rebedded both my 29.5 and then my 38 same issue.
If that iris the issue and your bed be sure to. Make the 795 thick it will hold up longer.

 

[seadaddler]

I rebed the cleat aI finished the rebeding of the cleat and stanchion and will start putting things
Back together today.
I was thinking maybe the hatch might be the leak because I did see some brown stain marks up high but not sure how the hatch comes apart.

 

[seadaddler]

Twills
How would I go about resealing the hatch and see many screws around the fram so if I take all those screws out will the hatch lift out and than reseal with what did you use for sealing.
Nick

 

[Dan_Y]

These will help. The forward hatch and deck windshields are bedded in Dow 795 according to the installation procedures.