A lot of water in the cabin of my Hunter 23

[Peggie Hall/HeadMistress]

Peter makes a good point

Bilge pumps (nor anything else) allow owners to winterize and/or haul a boat and then just forget about it till spring. All kinds of things can happen when your back is turned...parted dock lines, rodent or insect infestation, canvas snaps or other covering hold-down failure, clogged cockpit drains, power failure...anything that can go wrong will...Murphy was actually an optimist.So it's important to check on your boat at least weekly during the winter--especially if it's in the water, but just as important if it's out. If the boat is too far away from home for that to be practical for you, arrange to swap visits with dockmates...one of you checks on everyone's boat each time. Don't depend on the marina or the yard, even if you pay 'em to do it...'cuz they won't. It's your boat, and your responsibility to take care of it year round.

 

[Bill Leathen]

Bilge pump on H23 ??

There have been other discussions on the H23 and a suspeptable area seems to be the anchor locker. But if you are talking about 70 gallons, I have to believe somthing other than rain water is getting into the boat. I own a H23 and my experience is - even if the cockpit drain is plugged with leaves, which it often is in Wisconsin in the fall, water does not enter the cabin from the cockpit. One time the leaves had stopped up the drain while I was gone for a while and the cockpit had 4" of water in it, but the cabin was still relatively dry. In my case, in the spring, water in the cockpit is a given between the time I take it out of storage and launch it. My drivway is sloped down so rain water collects up to about 3" at the foward end of the cockpit and none at the transom. I hand pump it out when I have to but most of the time it just sits there. My experience is that water enters the cabin through fittings that are loose, or have lost some of the sealant. I confess that I have a crack in the plexiglass sliding hatch cover. I have yet to bite the bullit and purchase from Hunter. Even after a week of torrential rains, with a known crack in my sliding hatch, the most water I have in the cabin is about 1 gallon. I can tell where it is coming in because the teak is slightly dis-colored. The water collects in the depressions in the hull around the keel bolts. I can hardly imagine how you could put a bilge pump in a depression that is a maximum of 1" deep. I suspect if you survey H23 owners, there are very very few with bilge pumps. Good luck and let us all know what you figure out.Bill Leathen

 

[Jim Kolstoe]

Can't be rain water

Tim,  I have to agree with the thought that there is no way you're going to get 70 gal. from rain water leaks. The only real possibilites are your cockpit drain, your keel bolts or if there are added through hulls such as depth sounders or speedos. Have this checked by an expert, it may save a lot of money and grief. About taking your mast down, you only need one assistant. Its possible to do it yourself, if you like life in a nutcracker, but I cannot recommend it. Rig a small turning block in your anchor well - mine's tied on with 1/4" line as a permanent installation. Run a sheet foreward from a jib winch, through the turning block and tie it to the turn buckle after you've loosened the stays. The bigger person stands at the mast while the smaller person pulls the pin connecting the forestay to the chain plate. Then guides the mast down, while the smaller person controls the decent with 3 or 4 wraps around the jib winch - kind of like a climber on belay.Good luck.Jim Kolstoe, h23 Kara's Boo

 

[Jon Bastien]

Check the through-hulls..

Tim, I used to own an H23, and I had problems with water leaking into the boat. I agree with most of the other posts- It's not likely that all that water came from rain. One thing that is worth mentioning, the through-hull for the cockpit drain and the lower rudder pintle were both at or below the waterline on my H23; Both came loose at some point during my ownership of the boat, and neither was particularly noticable on a visual inspection. To check them, climb into the cockpit lazerette and see if there's any water leaking in at either of those places. If you don't see any, try to wiggle the cockpit drain hose; You may be surprised at your findings! Also check to be sure the nuts for the rudder pintles are securely tightened. If either of these items is loose, I recommend pulling the boat out of the water right away. Remove the guilty fitting, and let the core of the transom dry out before you attempt to re-install it (to prevent the core from rotting out). If these aren't the source of the leak, you may want to re-bed the fittings anyway when you pull the boat, to prevent them from leaking next season. Good luck,--Jon BastienBoatless(!) in Germany

 

[Tim Hayes]

Problem Found!

Hello Everyone,First of all I want to thank you all for your great information. This site and all of you have been a god-send this last year. I have learned so much. Thanks!!!Today I had some work to do down near the boat and decided to stop in a check things out. Here is what I found. When I arrived there was about a gallon of water in the sole of the boat. That is pretty typical of what I have been seeing all year. It was raining all day today so I sat in the boat for a couple of hours and saw no rain coming in. So I ruled out rain as my cause. I then began climbing around in the bowels of the boat. Under the starboard lazerette in the very back I found a large patch of delaminated fiberglass with obvious water damage. I checked the port side, but did not find any obvious damage. I then went into the cockpit and climbed down in the storage area where the battery is (no small feat for a man of my size!) and began to take a close look around. I found a sizeable area of delamination of the fiberglass and the wood underneath it was "soft." Not so soft that I could move it, but soft enough that it made a different sound when hit. Looking at the location of the water damage in this area I could see that water has been entering though some means into this storage area, and then moving into the cabin through the water damaged areas. I can clearly trace a path of a rust colored stain that goes from the storage area to the cabin. So I have found where the water is entering my boat. That is step one. Next step is to figure out if it is coming through the drain hose, the pintel, or through some other undiscovered entry into the storage area.Now for the next big question: Since the fiberglass is delaminating (in large chunks) from the wood of the boat I know I will have to replace that, but am I going to have to cut out the soft wood and replace it? What do you all think? I took some photos of the damaged area and will post a link to them soon so you all can get a better look at the damage.Thanks again,Tim Hayes

 

[Kevin Keen]

Tim: Description of location of delamination?

Tim: Could you be more specific about the location of the area of fiberglass delamination?For example, this year I cut out and replaced the 1/2 inch plywood supports for the battery box on two sides with yellow cedar---a Pacific Northwest wood that can take a soaking and not rot. Fiberglass mat roving was also placed around the outside of the supports. This I cut away. Water was catching and not draining from under the battery because there were no limber holes to allow this area to drain. The top thin plywood section that holds the battery and suppports the water "tank" was painted white and showed no sign of rot. This section is also attached to the hull with mat roving. Water was entering through a narrow leaky section in the deck to hull joint in this area during heavy rainfall. This was also fixed. Water also had been entering through the closed lazarette during heavy rain. I solved this problem by putting weather seal in the coves that the lazarette seat edges fit into. - Kevin.

 

[Tim Hayes]

Kevin, here is location of damage

Kevin,I have modified a drawing of the H23 plan to show wehre the damage is on my boat. Hope this helps. I will post pictures on this site in a few days.Let me know what you think.

 

[Kevin Keen]

Reply to Tim: Likely Causes

Tim:Thanks for posting the H23 plan showing areas of water damage for your boat on the web. Check for water stains on the hull "carpeting" for the quarter ("coffin") berth that could indicate a leak between deck and hull. Best to crawl inside the lazarette bilge and check for possible hull-deck joint leaks all around. The source could still be on the port side like mine. Other sources of leaks, as noted by replies to you query by other H23 sailors, include the cockpit drain, screws for the cockpit drain teak wood and the mainsheet traveler, winches, cleats, mooring pins, jib sheet swivel cams, cockpit drain hose, cockpit drain thruhull, rudder gudgeons, overflow during heavy rain leaking through the lazarette, any other thruhulls in this part of the boat (depth sensor, speed log, fish finder), seal for ballasted keel (when was the last time you checked the torque on the keel bolts?) Check the wood for the bulkhead and the quarter berth for signs of rot and replace as required. Your H23 is taking on a lot of water (70 gallons?) so there could be multiple sources above and below the waterline. Taking the boat out now is important to avoid that sinking feeling and to dry the wet wood in the boat out over the winter as well as find the source or sources of the leak. Good luck. I'll reply again after you have a chance to upload your photos. - Kevin.

 

[Davor]

Water, water everywhere

I had a lot of rain water problems when I bought my H-23, all due to the rub rail at the hull / deck joint. Make sure you clean and caulk the top corner between the deck and the rub rail, all around. I used clear 3M-4200. I keep a small container "air-dry" desiccant in both the lazarette and under the galley in the main cabin. The interior is bone dry year round. My bottom companion way board was starting to rot due to standing water between the traveler and the cabin. To improve drainage, I raised the traveler by sandwiching two stainless steel washers under the traveler at each screw. I installed an automatic 12 volt electric bilge pump in the lowest area of the lazarette with the hose going to an above water trough hull fitting on the port side after an inverted loop to prevent back siphoning. s/v Miss Brandy

 

[Tim Hayes]

Pictures poseed.

Hello, Everyone.As I promised I have posted some pictures of the damage to my boat. The images show both areas where damage has been done. The first two are under the starboard side lazarette and the third picture is in the storage area under the cockpit. The last picture was suposed to show some hairline cracks around my port side chinplate whi bother me, but the image is not good enough to show that damage.The big whole which has been cut in the boat under the lazarette: is that something that was done while the boat was being built?Please let me know what you think.Thanks,Tim

 

[Steve]

Similar to my experiance

On my H23 I had a leak that always ended up in the bilge. It was never a great deal of water, but even on a warm calm day more water would appear in bilge after moping up the water. One day While standing on my head in the lazerate looking for a lost widget, I saw wet green line comeing from one of the pintle/gudgeon mounts. Water was leaking thru one of the holes and after re-sealing, the boat was again dry.

 

[william]

now you have me interested too.

my h23 too has some of the water damage and rot similer to the places described by tim. it has obviously had water standing in the lazerette and in my case even has had water in the lockers at one time. (no real damage there that i see). however, the bulkhead between the lazerette and cabin looks to have the same kind of damage as in tims pics....although not quite as dramatic. also the battery/water holder has some delamination where it is held to the fiberglass hull and has some rot too. i didn't notice this rot till i had the battery out and felt up "inside" this area. i mada a mental note that this may have to be replaced this summer when it gets warmer. (unfortunately glass and paint work is not possible in my neighborhood for the next few months....not outside in my driveway anyway.) this is pretty much the same kind of damage kevin described with his battery area and certainly due to poor design....hunter should have drained this area or better yet simply left the "downhill" piece of wood off altoghther. so, my question, (and pertinant for tim too): in areas of minor rot, how well do the "rot getters" work. i was told by a fiberglass man that it is simply thinned resin that penetrates into the wood/rot and then hardens. the battery box and water area looks to be no big deal to cut-out and replace but the bulkhead between the lazerette and cabin is another matter!

 

[Kevin Keen]

William: Design issues and Git Rot

William:If you are going to replace the battery compartment allow for limber holes to drain the mount. For those not planning to replace their existing battery compartment, using an electric drill to create limber holes is strongly advised to drain water and avoid rot---just be careful not to drill through the hull! Concerning the use of Git Rot, follow the directions and make sure the wood is completely dry. When the Git Rot resin (an epoxy) is absorbed by the wood through capillary action, the result will be stronger than the original wood (and more resistant to rot) if done correctly. - Kevin.