Question was "Has anyone pressured up the cabin to find deck leaks? how did this go? "
Short answer is "Yes"
I have been wrestling at least one (likely more) cabin leaks on Hunter 376.
After picking the brains of my dockmates and swarthy veterans, went about trying to seal and pressurize the cabin to locate the leak.
The theory sounded plausible.
I bought rolls of paint tarp with factory masking tape edge. Shop vac, hoses, liquid soap, atomizer.
"how did this go?": badly
I burned at least two days and learned absolutely nothing. I remember it took hours and hours to seal the companionway. Then awkwardly climbed out the foredeck hatch for the first time.
Out of frustration, I divided the boat into thirds at the bulkheads and was eager to perform a proof of concept. By then, I just wanted to validate if the method had any merit. My optimistic imagination, played a video with a lively
stream of soap bubble broadcasting a corroded canvas snap. Hah. Field of dreams.
Even the section with the least number of penetrations and logically, easiest to seal, still did not provide any useful information.
Perhaps it might be possible to seal a really simple day sailor. That is, a boat that does not feature a head liner, and maybe only a single hatch.
On my cruising boat, there were just too many pathways.