First 211 water ingress

[TonyH]

Hi Chaps,

We bought a 13 year old Bene 211 in August last year. She was in a rather sad state having been left on her mooring unattended for at least one year.

Anyway we've been gradually cleaning her up and replacing bits such as running rigging, sails, tiller, decals, cushions and sails.

She looks the business now but we've discovered a problem. Up until yesterday we've only had light breezes to sail her in but yesterday was a good blow and we heeled over on each tack quite a lot. She behaved perfectly with the new sails and we were really pleased.

Then, we got back to the marina and, just before bed, discovered that the rear lockers under the single berths on both port and starboard were about 3" deep in water and the cushions were sodden.

The space under the cockpit and all the forward lockers etc were bone dry.

We need to find out where this water is coming from.

We had her at home over winter on her trailer exposed to all sorts of weather and never suffered any leakage at all.

I checked the bilge pump hoses etc and they were all dry and, indeed, dusty. So I wouldn't have thought any water had been forced up that way. Also, I would have expected the under cockpit area to be wet if that was the case anyway.

(Btw, does anyone know what the other tube is for under the cockpit? It terminates on a black cylindrical plastic tube which is fastened on the underside of the cockpit sole.)

My wife and I have done some head scratching and can only come up with the thought that, somehow, the water is being forced in via the undersides of each toe rail.

Does anyone have any experience of anything similar on the First 211?

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks,

Tony

 

[jibes138]

Do you have cockpit drain hoses that go to through hulls that are above the waterline? While heeled those might be underwater and the hoses could be old and broken. I had a leak like that once and found the hoses rotted out, replaced them and everything was fine.

 

[TonyH]

Do you have cockpit drain hoses that go to through hulls that are above the waterline? While heeled those might be underwater and the hoses could be old and broken. I had a leak like that once and found the hoses rotted out, replaced them and everything was fine.

No, there are no cockpit drain hoses. The 211 is open at the stern and any water drains out of there. (It also rushes in and wets your feet when encountering a wake as well!)

Thanks Tony

 

[Jackdaw]

We have a First 260, the big sister of your boat. They share many common design features.

It may be what we call 'water in the grid'.

The grid system that creates the inner liner hull reinforcement can channel water from all over. What will get into ours when we pull out the speedo transducer to clean it. Any water that gets in can move about abit. Large angles of heel can cause that. As it is the first time on the boat in such aggressive conditions, that might explain it.

Normally I'd automatically ask someone in the UK if the water is salty, but I see that will not help in your case!

 

[TonyH]

Thanks Jackdaw,

That's very interesting. We are going up to the boat later this week and (hopefully) heel her over some more.

We're going to take the cushions out and watch the rear lockers. That way, we may be able to see any ingress and also, be able to mop the lockers out whilst keeping the cushions dry.

Watch this space.

Cheers,

Tony

 

[Ron20324]

You could sprinkle baby powder around so any leak will leave a trail through the powder- even if you can not see it as it happening.

 

[Ken Cross]

If you suspect the under side of the rub rail, you can squirt a garden hose there.
Ken

 

[TonyH]

If you suspect the under side of the rub rail, you can squirt a garden hose there.
Ken

Hi Ken, yes, that's one of the options open to us and as we have a hose at the end of our jetty we'll be doing that as part of the diagnostic process.

Cheers,

Tony

 

[LaColla]

I had a boat that took on water when aggressively healed. I was coming in through the deck-hull joint under the rub rail. A bead of silicon under the rub rail stopped it. Not sure if that would be the long term solution, but it did work.

 

[TonyH]

Hi LaColla,

After some investigation last week, I think what's happening is something akin to what Jackdaw described.

There's just too much water coming in when heeled for it to be coming in as we actually heel. 2-3 gallons in a few seconds. There would have to be one big hole for that amount of water.

What I think is happening is that we have a leak from a through deck fitting somewhere and the leak is forming a puddle within the stringers/sandwich/hull area. When we heel over, the puddle moves and overflows from where the bottom stringer molding finishes at the hull. I'm going to attack everywhere with Sikaflex sealant this weekend in a bid to stop the initial leak.

I've stripped the headlining and cupboards out immediately following the last "flooding" and everything from the through hull fixtures seem to be dry. This is why I think the water is from a puddle.

Cheers,

Tony