Hunter 40.5 anchor locker drain leak fix

Oct 26, 2010
1,882
Hunter 40.5 Beaufort, SC
I think I have isolated the leak I am getting into the bilge to the lower anchor locker drain. It seems to be sealed well on the inside of the locker but when I dump water into the locker, there is leakage from between the anchor locker liner and the outer hull. Then this eventually drains into the bilge. The last big storm we had the bilge pump cycled over 100 times with lots of rain and some pitching on the mooring. When its not rained, the bilge counter reads 0 for days on end. It appears there is a "tube" of some sort that runs from the locker to the clamshell fitting on the hull.

Has anyone undergone this repair and what type of tubing or hose did you use and how did you access it and replace it? Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Smokey
 
May 17, 2004
5,026
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
Our Beneteau had a problem like that from the factory. Beneteau just has the inner liner directly up against the outer hull, so water should go out from the locker straight through the hull. There is a clamshell style cover on the outside, and that does sit in the hole somewhat, but not around the whole circumference. In our case there was a void between the liner and outer hull, so water could leak between the two.

IMG_2466.JPG


Our dealer's solution was just to squirt a bunch of 5200 in the void to basically make a tube from the liner to the outer hull. Not sure if there's a more robust way of tying it all back together, or if Hunter's design is similar.
 
Oct 26, 2010
1,882
Hunter 40.5 Beaufort, SC
I'm pretty sure there is an actual "tube or hose" of some sort between the anchor locker liner and the outer hull. There is a pretty good distance to span and I think I can feel the tube when I reach up with my fingers into the space. There has to be some way to fix this and I imagine I'm not the first to get this problem. Hopefully other 40.5 owners have some ideas on the difficulty of the fix.
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,131
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
I'm pretty sure there is an actual "tube or hose" of some sort between the anchor locker liner and the outer hull. There is a pretty good distance to span and I think I can feel the tube when I reach up with my fingers into the space. There has to be some way to fix this and I imagine I'm not the first to get this problem. Hopefully other 40.5 owners have some ideas on the difficulty of the fix.
I thought someone had posted that on the Hunter Facebook page but I didn't find it. There is a short tube. Someone suggested a tar-like seal that could be applied with a brush attached to a long stick. Good luck!
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
I have played around with making custom tubes using woven carbon fibre sleeve material. Pulled it over an appropriately sized mandrel and epoxied it. The stuff expands and contracts in diameter to fit. You may be able to simply clean the drainway, fit the woven sleeve and epoxy it in place to create a custom fit tube. Trim the inside and out, fillet and fit a clamshell cover on the outside.
http://www.cstsales.com/a-carbon-fiber-braided-sleeves.html
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
... In our case there was a void between the liner and outer hull, so water could leak between the two.''' Our dealer's solution was just to squirt a bunch of 5200 in the void to basically make a tube from the liner to the outer hull...
So why not fill the gap with 5200 or epoxy then intall a mushroom thru-hull and caulk it in? I guess I'm lucky- my anchor locker IS the hull, no liner.
 
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Feb 10, 2004
3,917
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
smokey73 - After 21 years, I have never seen or suspected a leak from the anchor locker. How did you determine that there is a tube? Did you remove the clamshell cover on the outside, or somehow look into the drain hole on the inside? I can say that when the drain hole becomes plugged with seaweed and debris, water will just sit in the locker and not drain out. Maybe I have a tube that doesn't leak?
My gripe on the anchor locker is that the lower drain is about 2-3" off the bottom so it is impossible to drain all of the water and it collects debris. And this water promotes chain rusting. I have thought of cleaning and then pouring some sort of compound into it to bring the bottom level with the drain hole.
I wonder if anyone has done this, or if there is a downside to this plan that I don't see?
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
... My gripe on the anchor locker is that the lower drain is about 2-3" off the bottom so it is impossible to drain all of the water and it collects debris. I have thought of cleaning and then pouring some sort of compound into it to bring the bottom level with the drain hole. I wonder if anyone has done this, or if there is a downside to this plan that I don't see?
My locker is the same as yours- dead space on the bottom. I was going to put a drain on the other side, maybe a few inches higher than the OEM drain. But it sounds like you already have 2? I don't now how your bottom is configured, but maybe those rubber squares usually meant for on the deck or cockpit floor? But, yeah, and expoxy of filler might be a good way to raise the bottom? I imagine it is the way it is so they can remove the "plug" when the boat is made. In warmer weather, I'll deal with mine, but please post if you find a gooder way to do this fix. Whichever side the OEM hole is, heel the boat to the other side so whatever you pour in slants toward the hole and drains totally.
 
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May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
Be careful not to use one big lift of epoxy. It will get hot enough to ignite and start burning. Better is to use some thickened epoxy to glue down some marine plywood, then cover with 3-4 layers of mat and csm. Sand smooth and gelcote.
 
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Feb 10, 2004
3,917
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
Ron- The two drains in my 40.5: one is located about 2-3 inches off the bottom and the other is very high- 24-30 inches. I can't imagine why there is one that high, unless it is an overflow if the bottom one is plugged.
I am thinking of a block of structural foam and then covered with some cloth and West System epoxy. Great idea to have the block sloped toward the drain, as well as the warning from LeslieTroyer on the heat from a single pour.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Is that upper hole an OEM or owner-mod? That is alot of water that could be heavy AND block you reach the lower one to clear the hole.

What led me to do the 2nd hole was a letter to a magazine about the OEM one clogging, then the water backed up and ran into the cabin. I put my 2nd one in just a couple inches higher than the first.
 
Oct 26, 2010
1,882
Hunter 40.5 Beaufort, SC
smokey73 - After 21 years, I have never seen or suspected a leak from the anchor locker. How did you determine that there is a tube? Did you remove the clamshell cover on the outside, or somehow look into the drain hole on the inside? I can say that when the drain hole becomes plugged with seaweed and debris, water will just sit in the locker and not drain out. Maybe I have a tube that doesn't leak?
My gripe on the anchor locker is that the lower drain is about 2-3" off the bottom so it is impossible to drain all of the water and it collects debris. And this water promotes chain rusting. I have thought of cleaning and then pouring some sort of compound into it to bring the bottom level with the drain hole.
I wonder if anyone has done this, or if there is a downside to this plan that I don't see?
Rich,
I tracked water into the foward area from the anchor locker. If you open the triangular covers under the foward V-berth and look down into that area you can see the bottom of the anchor locker, which is actually not the hull itself. If you reach up on the port side between the anchorl locker and the hull itself you can barely reach a tube that connects the anchor locker drain to the outside of the hull. I noticed it was wet in the forward area under the V-berth after storms or heeling over to port.

and when I poured water into the anchor locker and had paper towels stuffed up where the "tube" was they were wet.

My port side anchor locker drain is about 3 inches above the bottom of the locker and like mentioned by others, retains water so I have thought about putting something in there to even the bottom with the drain. Rather than trying to plug the existing hole and drill a new drain somewhere else I think I'm going to "drill out" the existing drain and oversize it so I can put a larger drain hose to the outer hull in its place. I may have to put a slightly larger clamshell on the outside of the hull but it beats drilling a second hole. I'll post pictures when I get around to doing it.
 
Oct 26, 2010
1,882
Hunter 40.5 Beaufort, SC
I finally got around to solving how to fix the leak in my anchor locker since the boat is in the yard for a quick paint repair.

It turns out the drain tube is just a piece of 3/4 inch Shedule 40 PVC pipe cut to span the gap from the inner locker to the hull. It was put in with some sort of sealant but no collar or other way to really assure a seal. I guess over the years the sealant separated and it leaked from both the outside (when the clamshell was submerged) and from the anchor locker when it rained. I removed both tubes for the lower and upper drains and have fashioned a replacement tube with a collar on the inside to provide a sealing surface. I'll post pictures later.
 
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Oct 26, 2010
1,882
Hunter 40.5 Beaufort, SC
Here are the pictures of my fix.
I was able to remove the old sealant and remove the 3/4 inch original pvc pipe.

0309201551a.jpg

0309201551b.jpg


I then fabricated new 3/4 inch pvc with a collar to seal to the inside of the anchor locker with 4200. The collar was made by glueing a 3/4 inch union onto the pipe and then cutting the union down to a narrow rim or collar.

0309201650 (1).jpg

I then applied 4200 around the inside of the collar and inserted it into the hole already in the anchor locker and through the gap and into the hole in the hull. I pulled a string through the hole with a weight on the end to hold the collar with 4200 firmly against the anchor locker to allow it to set up before I sealed the ouside of the hull opening.
0309201642c.jpg

This is a shot of the outside (hull opening) with the string/weight in place allowing the inside 4200 around the collar to cure. That way when I apply the 4200 around the pipe I won't force the pipe out of the opening. I thought about a collar on the outside but it would have to be installed after the pipe was inserted. I decided to try sealing around the opening (note the wood scrap spacer to make sure there is room to insert the 4200). If that doesn't work I can remove and start over again. This has to work better than the original.
 

jviss

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Feb 5, 2004
6,745
Tartan 3800 20 Westport, MA
Wow, nice job, and nice documentation and pics! Thanks.