Anchor Locker Leak

[mcbenjamin]

Hello all. I've finally taken possession of my 87 Catalina 30 and have accumulated a rather large to-do list. I'm currently trying to seal up openings - missing screws, loose or leaking stanchions, etc. One leak I've found is within the anchor locker. At the fore end is a drain hole that seems to drain out the front - this is fine, except it seems to leak along the way down below. It seems the locker is a separate piece from the lining on the hull and somewhere in there the water is leaking down into the interior.

(I know... a picture is worth a thousand words. I'll be back to the boat in the morning and will bring the camera.)

Has anyone experienced something similar - or have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance - reading through these forums has been a huge asset, and forgive me if a search would have found this, but I didn't come up with anything.

 

[foolproof]

My 1976 does the same thing. I'm not sure about your locker door, but mine is kind of a crappy design in that it relies solely on a good gasket to seal it, unlike the forward hatch above the V-berth which has a lip around it. Not sure how this got thru the design process this way, but it did.

The first thing I did was to make sure the forward drain was open...it wasn't. The next thing I did was to flow a bunch of epoxy on the bottom of the locker to try to re-level it, hoping that the water would flow better (it tended to puddle in the back of the locker). After that I bought some 1/2" thick foam gasket material to seal it up. The above helped tremendously, but I still had a little seepage where the water sat against the foam gasket. To help with that I built a sunbrella cover to keep as much water off as possible (see attached picture). The cover is weighted and snaps to the deck, and stays on until it's time to get the anchor out.

I noticed that when mine leaks it collects under the V-berth. That is supposed to drain back to the bilge, but sometimes doesn't. There is a very small drain hole that gets plugged easily, and I have to open it up when I see the need.

Hope this helps...good luck!

 

[mcbenjamin]

Thanks for the reply - that looks great. It does seem to be a design that just invites the collection of water. I noticed the standing water under the v-berth and didn't see a drain for this area - I've got to look again - thanks for the tip!