336--Leaks after Irene

[rachelmackenzie]

Our 1995 Hunter 336 weathered hurricane Irene pretty well except for a number of new leaks--no leaks prior to this, although we've only owned the boat for this season.

We finally had the dreaded Hunter 336 compression post leak, although that has not leaked again since the very heavy rain. The big problem seems to be water coming in somewhere and getting in the headliner then leaking through the lights on the cabin roof on the port side over the kitchen, as well as down the starboard side behind the control panel over the nav. station. The stereo was completely drowned.

We were hoping that the leaks would stop when we put the dodger back on (removed it for the storm), however both of these leaks have persisted after the hurricane. A new stereo is not going in the boat until we figure this out!

The boat is being pulled tomorrow so it's fixin' time before the snow sets in. I would appreciate any advice you can offer.

 

[Steve Dion]

Be sure that your weep holes around the base of the mast a free of dirt and debris. They can get clogged up and water will not drain from the mast base.

I that does not take care of it, I would suggest that you rebed the mast step. This is of course assuming that the base is the source of your leak/s. Water can infiltrate from one point and travel a ways before it finds an exit point.

I would suggest that you use butyl tape to rebed the step.

 

[robertsapp]

When we bought our H336, we had a terrible leak at the compression post. Everytime it would rain, we'd have water on the salon table, leaking from the overhead light in the forward cabin, and dripping from the headliner near the breaker panel area. Upon investigation, we found that water was following the wires from inside the mast down into the compression post. Where the wires exited the post, some would drip off (the table leak) and some would continue running along the wires, getting into the headliner and causing the other leaks. We "solved" our problem by inserting enough wire back into the compression post to make a drip loop down inside the post. Now any water that leaks past the sealant following the wires drips harmlessly down inside the stainless steel post and into the bilge. It's not really a true cure - to do that we'd have to pull the mast and either reroute the wires to exit the mast above deck and then through a deck box, or create a permanent drip loop inside the mast. Our treatment solved our problem though, without having to pull the mast, which you only do here in Florida if you have to replace your standing rigging.

 

[jpswoope]

We live aboard a 1994 Hunter 42 Passage center cockpit and experienced compression post leaks for the first six months after purchasing in 2011. After cleaning mast weep holes and doing the other standard 'solutions', I used an expanding waterproof foam made by Dow Chemical and sold in Home Depot and Lowes to fill the mast stand pipe from the bottom (salon level) where the mast wiring penetrates the deck into the compression post. This material is removable and slightly flexible in the event of mast removal.

 

[steves22278]

We had the dreaded compression post leaks on our 2003 H356 and solved them in the following manner. If your boat has the mast wires routed under a small metal cap near the mast then the problem is in the cap. If you remove the nuts holding down the cap you will see the wires routed over a short vertical pipe before going down into the cabin. The metal cap has some foam material to keep water out of the entrance to the cabin. Problem is that the foam dries out and heavy rain, particularly if it is wind driven, will get into the cap and ride up on the wires and get into the short standpipe and then down into the cabin. Solution has two parts. First, with the cap off, look down into the standpipe and notice where the wires enter the cabin - usually through a small plastic cup. Heavily caulk the wire's passage through that cup. Secondly, renew the foam material that is meant to keep water out of the inside of the cap in the first place. Whole job took about 10 minutes and solved problem. BTW, we periodically clean the mast base drain holes but that does not seem to make a difference.