Hello fellow trailer sailors, My 1999 H260 was very dry the first two years, but water is coming in, starting last season, and I still haven't figured out the source. So I am looking for advice from others that may have had similar experiences: 1. Water in the light above salon table. I'm almost certain that water must somehow be coming in around the mast base and/or center board control hardware. Water appears only after a heavy rain. Could the fix be as simple as running a bead of caulk around the mast base hardware to deck joint? Other suggestions? 2. Water gets into the cabinet floor under the sink in the head. It is coming from under the liner. It will sometimes be there after a heavy rain. Also, I have noticed that the boat is dry before a sail, then after a sail, salt water will be in this area. Salt water also finds its way onto the aft berth, under the cushions. I have removed the cushions to monitor the situation and to keep them from getting wet. I haven't completely characterized the circumstances, but here is what I have noticed, so far. The water appears to be coming from the port side, maybe running out from under the liner. The wall covering (and cushions) are wetter on that side. However it does trickle across to the other side, and also finds its way into the bilge, beneath. The area behind the aft bulk head is wet forward, but the aft portion at the very back of the compartment is dusty dry. All areas forward are dry: under salon seats, under galley cabinets, under V-berth, etc. I placed a paper towel in the water ballast fill plug area to test if water was coming in there -- nope. Although there is a little water in the bilge, the bilge pump is dusty inside, so water is not siphoning in the outlet. I tightened and check if water is coming through the bathroom sink through hull -- nope. I notice water, I think, only after pretty breezy days when the rail gets dunked during a gust. On light wind days or when motoring, the boat is dry after an outing. Could it be possible that a leak has developed in under the rub rail, at the deck hull joint? Would this allow rain water to get in, too? If so, How can I get a look at it? Does the rub rail come off with out destroying it -- and, if so, how? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you, Tom
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a couple of possibilities
Your deductions of where the leaks are seem to be good ones. Here are a couple of other possibilities; Your leak above the table could also be coming from the mast light wiring plug/base. My jib sheets occasionally get caught up on mine when I tack - I worry that I may loosen or brake it off. Also, it may be leaking from where the CB line runs under the mast plate. My boat has lots of caulking around this spot. Your other leak could be coming from where the u-bolts that hold the shrouds go thru. Or, perhaps the grout/sealant around one of the windows could have deteriorated and water from splash/waves may be getting in thru there.
Your deductions of where the leaks are seem to be good ones. Here are a couple of other possibilities; Your leak above the table could also be coming from the mast light wiring plug/base. My jib sheets occasionally get caught up on mine when I tack - I worry that I may loosen or brake it off. Also, it may be leaking from where the CB line runs under the mast plate. My boat has lots of caulking around this spot. Your other leak could be coming from where the u-bolts that hold the shrouds go thru. Or, perhaps the grout/sealant around one of the windows could have deteriorated and water from splash/waves may be getting in thru there.
To leak or not to Leak that is the question
Tom; You describe the water as being salty inside. There are several sources the water may be coming from as you mentioned salty. By the way I am an old salty sea poop who wallows all the time. Just a little humor. The first area to check is at the base of the compression post. Lift up the cover plates which may be siliconed or screwed down. Look at the pole where it sits on top of a plate. To see if that is the area of concern, take the boat out and motor fast while making turns. See if any water is coming from between the base plate that the compression post sits on and the fiberglass. You will need to check around all sides. if you feel water coming through, then you found it. The cure is to go back and get several rags, acetone and 5200. Fill the area or gap the water is coming through with 5200 and push it in with your hand as if you are filling grease into the bearings on a tire. Don't forget to put some on the head of the bolt as well. On some of the intial 260 boats, there were two screw holes which Hunter finally stopped using but water came in. You will find them if there one in front and on the rear. If you do not see any, there ther is noe. But if there is, a # 1o X 20 or 24 screw into the hole with a little 5200 will cure that. Next place is the wing nut that you open and close the vent to allow water in or out. There is a gasket material on the bottom of the washer. See if that is still intact and if not replace. The next is the hull to deck joint on the transom. Look in the very back when motoring at fast speed and if you feel water, then pull the boat out. Remove the insert of the rub rail and then take out screws and go up about two feet on both sides. Clean area and fill all holes with 5200 liberally. Rescrew the rub rail and place insert back in. Clean with alcohol as acetone is not good to the hands and you should wear gloves. IF you find any holes stripped, then use two part epoxy and fill and then sand smooth and do that with any holes that were drilled but never usede. Finally, do you have any through hull fittings for example instruments and if so check those. This should find your water coming in from below. Now to topsides. It could be the light deck plug fixture is loose or the gasket is shot amd of so. unscrew and use a good silicon> I like th e West Marine brand as it is the best I have found. Another place is the Sheave pin where the line to the centerboard goes down into the compression post and the pipe. If the pipe (compression post) is not caulked against the fiberglass, then put a little dab a doo or 5200 there to seal. You can take the plates off the in the cabin where the compression post goes through the ceiling and spray water to see if there is any water coming through. Good luck and advise. I must apologize for taking a long time on this post but wanted to be as thourough as possible. Me gone by by to never never land as I took a wonderful shockjing experience today with my hair standing out when I touched live wires. This is why I am crazy as I lost some brain cells today. Is that right Jimbo. Crazy Davy Condonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Tom; You describe the water as being salty inside. There are several sources the water may be coming from as you mentioned salty. By the way I am an old salty sea poop who wallows all the time. Just a little humor. The first area to check is at the base of the compression post. Lift up the cover plates which may be siliconed or screwed down. Look at the pole where it sits on top of a plate. To see if that is the area of concern, take the boat out and motor fast while making turns. See if any water is coming from between the base plate that the compression post sits on and the fiberglass. You will need to check around all sides. if you feel water coming through, then you found it. The cure is to go back and get several rags, acetone and 5200. Fill the area or gap the water is coming through with 5200 and push it in with your hand as if you are filling grease into the bearings on a tire. Don't forget to put some on the head of the bolt as well. On some of the intial 260 boats, there were two screw holes which Hunter finally stopped using but water came in. You will find them if there one in front and on the rear. If you do not see any, there ther is noe. But if there is, a # 1o X 20 or 24 screw into the hole with a little 5200 will cure that. Next place is the wing nut that you open and close the vent to allow water in or out. There is a gasket material on the bottom of the washer. See if that is still intact and if not replace. The next is the hull to deck joint on the transom. Look in the very back when motoring at fast speed and if you feel water, then pull the boat out. Remove the insert of the rub rail and then take out screws and go up about two feet on both sides. Clean area and fill all holes with 5200 liberally. Rescrew the rub rail and place insert back in. Clean with alcohol as acetone is not good to the hands and you should wear gloves. IF you find any holes stripped, then use two part epoxy and fill and then sand smooth and do that with any holes that were drilled but never usede. Finally, do you have any through hull fittings for example instruments and if so check those. This should find your water coming in from below. Now to topsides. It could be the light deck plug fixture is loose or the gasket is shot amd of so. unscrew and use a good silicon> I like th e West Marine brand as it is the best I have found. Another place is the Sheave pin where the line to the centerboard goes down into the compression post and the pipe. If the pipe (compression post) is not caulked against the fiberglass, then put a little dab a doo or 5200 there to seal. You can take the plates off the in the cabin where the compression post goes through the ceiling and spray water to see if there is any water coming through. Good luck and advise. I must apologize for taking a long time on this post but wanted to be as thourough as possible. Me gone by by to never never land as I took a wonderful shockjing experience today with my hair standing out when I touched live wires. This is why I am crazy as I lost some brain cells today. Is that right Jimbo. Crazy Davy Condonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
One other thing is that...
...any water that has made its way to the top of the ballast tank (lower then area under sinks when boat upright) will migrate to under the lee sink when heeled hard. You must consider a ballast tank leak also. If anything was screwed into the cabin sole it may have punctured to top of the tank. You can use food dye to check that. alan
...any water that has made its way to the top of the ballast tank (lower then area under sinks when boat upright) will migrate to under the lee sink when heeled hard. You must consider a ballast tank leak also. If anything was screwed into the cabin sole it may have punctured to top of the tank. You can use food dye to check that. alan
Thank you...
Thank you for your responses... I'll check out as you all suggested. FYI -- Greg Emerson of Hunter responded to a direct email to Hunter and made similar suggestions regarding checking the centerboard hardware under the salon table, the mast step and electrical thru hull. I'll let you know the out come. Fair winds, Tom
Thank you for your responses... I'll check out as you all suggested. FYI -- Greg Emerson of Hunter responded to a direct email to Hunter and made similar suggestions regarding checking the centerboard hardware under the salon table, the mast step and electrical thru hull. I'll let you know the out come. Fair winds, Tom
Update...
This past weekend I had a great sail and paid particular attention to where water might be coming in. Before casting off the mooring, I laid towels along the port and starboard edges of the aft berth (cushions removed) to trace where leak might be starting. Also verified that bilges were dry. As suggested by CD (Crazy Dave) and Greg Emerson, I then removed the plates at compression post base and peeked in. What I see there is a stainless steel plate with a receiver for the compression post and a large bolt head. The plate is bedded in copious amounts of hard, pink adhesive, with more adhesive around the sides of the protrusion which appears to encase the top of the centerboard. I didn't see any pivot bolts for centerboard or other screws, nuts, etc. The space is tight and I could just barely get my hand in a little around the protrusion and it felt mostly dry, maybe a little oily toward the aft end. Since singlehanded, I stuffed some paper towels all around so that any leaks would be detected later. I checked periodically during the 4 hour sail (thanks to the autopilot) to see if any water was apparent. Nope. Upon settling back in at the mooring, this is what I found: When pulling the paper towels out of the compression post base area there was just a tiny wet spot (1/4 teaspoon or less) on the port side, aft section, down low, not near the top. Not much at all. A little water had collected in the bilge, near the pump. There appeared to be a slight trickle mark from aft. I felt along the wall covering material and towels and found it to be wet on the port, aft wall covering material, at the floor. The starboard side was dry. Looking through the aft bulkehead, I could see water collected behind the bulkead, may be a 1/2 cup or so. There are drain holes to the bilge, so that explains the water there. Lower section of the bulkhead is molded to the hull but stops where the liner that makes up the aft berth floor is. The water was making its way to the port wall when healed to the port side, and flowed over the molded part of the bulkhead onto the wall covering material and started seeping forward. The startboard side is dry because the battery platform is molded in such a way to block water from flowing out that way. So how is the water getting in? Most of that area is dusty dry, but when holding the flashlight just so I could see trickle marks from the starboard, aft corner, near where the motor mounts are. I haven't completely finished tracing it down, but my primary suspects are: 1. The motor mount through bolts bedding has loosened up a bit. 2. There is an electrical wire hole for the aft running lights and other electircal which goes through that area. Perhaps the sealant has separated a bit. While sailing, water did run up there from following seas and large boat wakes (we get some very exciting wake rides from commercial and even private motor yachts on Boston harbor). So I suspect that some of that water found its way in through one of these areas. I'll keep you posted as I track down and fix these leaks. Fair winds, Tom
This past weekend I had a great sail and paid particular attention to where water might be coming in. Before casting off the mooring, I laid towels along the port and starboard edges of the aft berth (cushions removed) to trace where leak might be starting. Also verified that bilges were dry. As suggested by CD (Crazy Dave) and Greg Emerson, I then removed the plates at compression post base and peeked in. What I see there is a stainless steel plate with a receiver for the compression post and a large bolt head. The plate is bedded in copious amounts of hard, pink adhesive, with more adhesive around the sides of the protrusion which appears to encase the top of the centerboard. I didn't see any pivot bolts for centerboard or other screws, nuts, etc. The space is tight and I could just barely get my hand in a little around the protrusion and it felt mostly dry, maybe a little oily toward the aft end. Since singlehanded, I stuffed some paper towels all around so that any leaks would be detected later. I checked periodically during the 4 hour sail (thanks to the autopilot) to see if any water was apparent. Nope. Upon settling back in at the mooring, this is what I found: When pulling the paper towels out of the compression post base area there was just a tiny wet spot (1/4 teaspoon or less) on the port side, aft section, down low, not near the top. Not much at all. A little water had collected in the bilge, near the pump. There appeared to be a slight trickle mark from aft. I felt along the wall covering material and towels and found it to be wet on the port, aft wall covering material, at the floor. The starboard side was dry. Looking through the aft bulkehead, I could see water collected behind the bulkead, may be a 1/2 cup or so. There are drain holes to the bilge, so that explains the water there. Lower section of the bulkhead is molded to the hull but stops where the liner that makes up the aft berth floor is. The water was making its way to the port wall when healed to the port side, and flowed over the molded part of the bulkhead onto the wall covering material and started seeping forward. The startboard side is dry because the battery platform is molded in such a way to block water from flowing out that way. So how is the water getting in? Most of that area is dusty dry, but when holding the flashlight just so I could see trickle marks from the starboard, aft corner, near where the motor mounts are. I haven't completely finished tracing it down, but my primary suspects are: 1. The motor mount through bolts bedding has loosened up a bit. 2. There is an electrical wire hole for the aft running lights and other electircal which goes through that area. Perhaps the sealant has separated a bit. While sailing, water did run up there from following seas and large boat wakes (we get some very exciting wake rides from commercial and even private motor yachts on Boston harbor). So I suspect that some of that water found its way in through one of these areas. I'll keep you posted as I track down and fix these leaks. Fair winds, Tom
Tom Check the rub rails
I would check the rub rails. You will be surprised at the amount of screws that were placed to hold it to the boat. Jim S/V Java
I would check the rub rails. You will be surprised at the amount of screws that were placed to hold it to the boat. Jim S/V Java
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