H26 water under cabin floor?

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Apr 29, 2012
8
Hunter H26 Crystal River
Well after tropical storm Debby, we received a good 15" of rain in the past four days. Today I opened her up and I have found major two leaks. One is coming from my sliding hatch and one under my largest port window. I pulled my carpet out and all the cushions to dry but when I walk around the floor by the sink I hear water sloshing underneath. I removed the rear access deck plate and vacuumed all the water I could get but still here the noise. Has anyone had this issue and how was it fixed? Also how can I better seal my sliding hatch?
 
Jun 8, 2004
278
Hunter 26 Illinois
Hatch boards

I cannot speak to the squishy floor issue, because I've never had that problem. But, I have never had rain come in under the sliding hatch either. I have had a little bit of water come in that way if I am not careful with the power washer though. All of my rainwater problems came through the hatch boards. The water just blows in at the joints! I put metal carpet strips on the edges with double-sided foam tape and 3 or 4 screws. Since then I have never had rain in, and we've had some really driving rains since I did the fix. The boat is completly dry. Oh, heres a picture of the hatch board screen I saw while looking for pictures. It's just two 1/4 inch plywood pieces, screen, and lot's of silicone caulk to glue it all together.
 

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Jun 8, 2004
10,532
-na -NA Anywhere USA
If you have a driving rain due to high wind, water can get in. However, let me address the two issue.

Opening port. If seal needs to be replaced between the lens and frame, then replace it and ca glues or a crazy glue will be used to attache the seal. Secondly, the caulking could be bad. Remove the window and outside trim ring. Remove all the old caulk and re install window and apply alot of architecutal grade pure silicon and then affix the trim ring. Make sure that you use the sealant well and then clean up with alcohol, not acetone as it will attack the plastics and lexan.

As for the second issue of the companionway slider, there are two teak strips and the one that could be an issue is the stop piece to prevent the lexan slider from coming out which is on the top. I suggest two people for this. Remove the screws on one side of the fiberglass top of the companionway cover and then remove the lexan slider portion and you will seee the strip. Take it off, clean off all the old caulk and recaulk not only around the screw holes but put a bead of silicon alot of it on the bottom of the strip all the way across and put back on. What is happenning is water is coming under that strip and falling into the cabin.

Although many have solutions to keep the water out, the simple fix is to order a companionway slider cover from this site and the piece is a good one. When you put it on, makie sure that you have a throwable underneath it on top of the slider hatch. If you have the camper top, order it without the snaps installed and put them on to match those of the camper top.

If there is still water under the floor, then there is another issue going on. Keep us posted sir.

crazy dave condon

crazy dave condon
 
Jun 27, 2012
9
Hunter 26 Seba Beach, EYC
I recently read a post regarding the same floor problem where because the floor is cut from one piece of plywood, if your seal around the edge fails that water will get under the entire floor and you will get that squishy effect. Once dry you need to seal around he edge of the floor pattern.
 
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