387 Water intrusion next to bilge

[svnalu387]

Hi Catalina owners. Anyone experienced water intrusion in the area just aft of the bilge that has exposed high density foam? From researching, it sounds like that is part of the internal grid structure, and I'm sure not supposed to be getting water in it. I'm getting water that I believe is salt water in that compartment and it drains into the bilge through the small irregular-shaped hole (above the PVC tube) in the aft section of the bilge. I can get my hand in there and feel the foam is soaked. I shop-vacd the water out and got a small chunk of foam that broke loose. I'm guessing it's the keel joint that is leaking? I don't see any of my through hulls obviously leaking on the inside of the boat, and the water does not seem to be coming up from the keel bolts themselves. One of the keel bolt washers is getting very rusty (next to float switch), so I'm a bit concerned about crevice corrosion. I'm sure I will need to pull the boat and deal with this, just wondering if anyone has experience with these particular symptoms. I'm hoping that I'm not looking at a full keel drop, but tough to know yet. Thanks for any contributions!

 

[dmax]

I doubt you'll need a full keel drop. Those keel bolt/nuts don't look bad, they'll clean right up. Try to locate the source first by drying the whole area and putting paper towels (or chalk dust, water soluble markers etc.) everywhere it could possibly be coming from - you should be able to trace it to its source. If it turns out to be a keel bolt, you can probably just reseal the keel to hull joint but I doubt it's that. At some point, remove the keel nuts one at a time (on the hard), clean them up and re-torque. You should do that every 2 - 5 years.

 

[svnalu387]

dmax - thank you so much for the response. Your assessment is comforting news considering I was really catastrophizing a bit since the boat is new to me in October. So, when a keel-hull joint crack occurs, would the seawater actually come up THROUGH keel bolt(s)? Where my water is pooling and then entering the bilge is well above the keel bolts. I had a more experienced sailor on board yesterday and he does not even think it's seawater. He had a similar bilge issue filling that he identified as AC condensation. We have been running our aft cabin AC more often the past month and it's not obvious where that condensate is draining, so per his suggestion I am going to trace that down as a likely culprit.

 

[dmax]

It is possible for water to come up through the keel bolts but that usually means either impact damage or the sealant in the hull-to-keel joint has broken down - would need to be on the hard to see determine this but this is not your situation. Good luck finding the source.

 

[Davidasailor26]

So, when a keel-hull joint crack occurs, would the seawater actually come up THROUGH keel bolt(s)?

Basically, yes. The hull itself is a continuous surface. The keel is bolted onto that surface, but other than the bolt holes there are no gaps in the hull that water could come through.

Where my water is pooling and then entering the bilge is well above the keel bolts.

It sounds pretty unlikely that your water is coming from the bolts or keel hull joint. Air conditioning would be a definite possibility if you don’t have a separate AC condensate drainage system. Other possibilities include the shaft seal, thru hulls (that you’ve already checked), rain water leaks around the deck fittings, or mast step. Tracing the source like dmax suggested could help narrow that down.