Crack in Companionway Entrance - Catalina 30 MKII Hull #4984

Mar 30, 2020
7
Catalina 30 MKII Lake Murray, SC
Hello -

Last weekend I was out sailing with a buddy and we had a steady 22 knot wind. With both sails out we had the boat heeled over pretty good. All of a sudden brown water was coming out of the companion way side trim. Not pouring but dripping everywhere and making a mess. After I was back at the marina I immediately removed the side trim. It did not take me long to see the source of the brown water. I found a crack on the starboard side face of the companionway opening and rounding about half way around the three sided opening. The port side is fine. Please see photos.

Has anyone ever dealt with this?

I assume this is from freezing temperatures with water entrapment. The deck above feels solid but there is indeed water in the core at this location. My next step is to remove the traveler. I am guessing that the traveler hardware may be an entry point for the water but not sure.

I plan to use an AC vacuum pump to create an enclosed volume to lower the pressure to “boil” out the moisture but I am at a cross roads in terms of what to do next. I know I need to find the source of the leak(s) into the deck.

I am new to this Catalina 30 and have already done some work on it and love it. I just want to address this issue in the best manner possible to minimize future damage.

Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Thank you.

HL

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Attachments

dmax

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Jul 29, 2018
971
O'Day 35 Buzzards Bay
You need to get a moisture meter and determine what parts, if any, of your deck's core have high moisture levels - only then can you plan your solution.
 
Mar 9, 2020
28
Catalina 30 MkII Oyster Bay NY
I had the same exact symptoms that I fixed recently. What i found was that rain water was pooling in the companionway hatch slide track, and was entering the cabin top core through the screw holes that hold down the long companionway teak trim (the long piece that goes under the traveller and runs parallel to the spray hood), particularly the forward three screw holes. They were not sealed. To fix this, you need to remove the teak trim piece and reseal the screw holes:

1) drill out teak bungs
2) unscrew teak trim and remove (it will slide out once unscrewed)
3) reseal screw holes - note the forward 3 screw holes are below the surface where the trim rests, i would recommend bedding with a caulk type sealant (4000UV, Sika 291). the aft 3 you can bed using butyl or caulk
4) reattach teak trim
5) insert new bungs

Attached are some pics from my repair.
 

Attachments

Mar 30, 2020
7
Catalina 30 MKII Lake Murray, SC
D-marko

Thank you very much for the detailed reply.
This is great information!
I was already wondering where I need to start to find the source of the water leak. What you explained makes perfect sense. I ordered the sealing materials you recommended and hope to have them before the weekend. I plan to take off the teak trim as you described and then begin to seal the holes, etc.

I will also document via some photos as you have done. I also learned that Catalina as a old repair bulletin on the crack issue but it did not state the root cause rather only that a separation can occur between the deck and liner.. I thought you might find it interesting so I have attached it to this post.

Again I very much appreciate the knowledge sharing and will put it to good use this weekend.

Thank you again!

HL
 

Attachments

May 7, 2011
281
C - 30 # 3573 Lake NormanNC formerly Bflo NY
Most prefer to use butyl tape to bed the sea hood. Check the clearance on the hatch scraping on the sea hood. That was an issue just discussed on the Catalina 40 Assn forum.
 
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Mar 9, 2020
28
Catalina 30 MkII Oyster Bay NY
D-marko

Thank you very much for the detailed reply.
This is great information!
I was already wondering where I need to start to find the source of the water leak. What you explained makes perfect sense. I ordered the sealing materials you recommended and hope to have them before the weekend. I plan to take off the teak trim as you described and then begin to seal the holes, etc.

I will also document via some photos as you have done. I also learned that Catalina as a old repair bulletin on the crack issue but it did not state the root cause rather only that a separation can occur between the deck and liner.. I thought you might find it interesting so I have attached it to this post.

Again I very much appreciate the knowledge sharing and will put it to good use this weekend.

Thank you again!

HL
My pleasure, hopefully that fixes your issue. Interesting bulletin you included. personally i've elected to not repair the crack in the event it starts leaking again, water will leak through rather than be trapped inside the core. I would not fill it for these reasons. Plus its hidden behind the trim strip so you don't see it anyway.
 
Mar 9, 2020
28
Catalina 30 MkII Oyster Bay NY
D-marko

Thank you very much for the detailed reply.
This is great information!
I was already wondering where I need to start to find the source of the water leak. What you explained makes perfect sense. I ordered the sealing materials you recommended and hope to have them before the weekend. I plan to take off the teak trim as you described and then begin to seal the holes, etc.

I will also document via some photos as you have done. I also learned that Catalina as a old repair bulletin on the crack issue but it did not state the root cause rather only that a separation can occur between the deck and liner.. I thought you might find it interesting so I have attached it to this post.

Again I very much appreciate the knowledge sharing and will put it to good use this weekend.

Thank you again!

HL
Just wanted to circle back and see how this turned out
 
Mar 30, 2020
7
Catalina 30 MKII Lake Murray, SC
Hello D-Marko and All

I wanted to reply to you and all to let you know what I did and what I found. First off I removed the teak trim as you advised and it appeared to have never been removed in the past. What I immediately noticed was when the original holes were drilled for mounting the stationary coach top were not centered. On the port side the holes were on the elevated surface near the edge and on the starboard side they were in the gutter area. I could tell from the dimensions that if the top was positioned properly centered from original manufacture all holes would have been on the elevated surface and not subject to constant flowing rainwater, etc. Also I noticed two extra holes that were drilled out of position with no fasteners. Also appears to be another production error. These were direct open holes into the core. I did as you suggested and maybe was too conservative but put butyl tape as a gasket between the top and deck with a screw at each hole going through the center along with marine sealant. I also sealed the open holes.

I attached a few photos to give you an idea what I found and you can see how I used the butyl tape. I highly recommend that anyone with a vintage Catalina 30 with a leak toward the companion way check under this teak trim first. I still am not 100% sure this address all the water coming into the deck but I definitely stopped at least one significant source that was leaking in for many decades.

Again thank you for the information.

HL


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Mar 9, 2020
28
Catalina 30 MkII Oyster Bay NY
Copper, great update! thank you. I’ve been wondering why i haven’t noticed any leaks on the port side. Your findings would provide an explanation. It was also Interesting to me to note the slight differences in production mounting and that the source of leaks may also be the spray hood screws as you pointed out. I hadn’t considered that. I may need to go back and re-bed that trim piece (for the 5th time :cool:) and the spray hood screws, as I noticed some leaking (although a reduced amount) from that area lately.The source has been perplexing, the spray hood screws would make sense. Thanks for sharing

btw varnish job on the teak looks great. What varnish did you use?