pressurize cabin
Here's a little trick a wise old salt once shared with me and I have used it twice with great success on both my prior boat and on my new boat. You will need to get the following: a powerful leaf blower, a piece of plwood the size of your companionway with a hole cut in the middle the size of the blower outlet tube,tape, a bottle of dawn and a gallon bucket.---not much. Next, place plywood in companion way, close slider, and tape the slider edges and plywood edges as air tight as possible(you wont be able to make them completely air tight, but do your best), tape up hatches in similar manner and stick the blower into the plywood hole. Now, mix a pretty concetrated solution of water and dish soap. Turn the blower on which will pressurize the cabin---the stronger the blower is the better. Now walk around your deck and putting small amounts of the soapy water solution around all, and I mean all deck hardware. The leaking culprit(s) will have bubbles around them while the non-leakers will have nothing--bubbles will slowly form, don't expect to see a froth. I have done this twice with great success. The first time 2 screws on my port jib lead track were leaking. The second time was more difficult as I initially could not find a leak which was dripping into the aft berth, however, I was persistent and found the leak after removing the primary winch drum where 2 of the screws were leaking(bubbling). Anyway, give it a try it works. When you do find a leak, and you will, my advice is to use a polysulfide sealant as this will facilitate removal in the future if needs be. Of course, If the leaking culprit is a structural item you will probably have to rebed it. ken matejka
