Leak 37c

[med2463]

We have one leak that I haven't managed to eliminate. When there is a prolonged heavy rain, water comes out the little hole of headliner corner and runs down to bottom corner of bulkhead liner and lands on the shelf in starboard cockpit locker that covers the frig condenser. See pic of area. I've assumed it is coming from cabin top, but haven't found it yet.

 

[Apex]

just remember, water can travel along horizontal surfaces looking for the next opportunity to fall. Others have suggested baby powder or chalk: a good opportunity to see all water paths. Follow that up with a garden hose.

 

[higgs]

Use a baggy taped to the offending area until you figure it out - which you may never do. One method is to pressurize the cabin using the output of a shop vac to create more pressure in the cabin than outside. You will need to seal off any areas that air can escape such as hatches. Then use a soup sud mixture with a paint brush on various deck fixtures to look for any leaks. Leaks will show bubbles. This might work - it didn't for me on my Irwin 32 - but it is worth a try.

 

[Anonymous 121765]

Med,

Having a 1980 Catalina, I am always finding new leaks that pop up. The boat flexes, caulks breakdown & deck wood shrinks etc.

When I find a leak, I scope & mark the area directly above on topside. From this center point of where the leak is visible below, draw a mental circle to include any higher thru deck fixtures looking at hardware and caulked seems. Water runs high to low, so your suspects are higher points first.

I cut the fiberglass area around my mast base to repair the mast step. What I found was hap-hazard balsa wood pieced together with seams running in all directions. Think of a loose fitting puzzle. Apex touched on this, but keep what he said in mind.

So,
#1 identify, all high points.
#2 for your water check, use either Apex or Higg's advice or both.
#3 another thing you might try is to get some good tape or easy to clean up cheap water based caulk & do all the high to low thru deck fittings. As apex has said, water can flow horizontally, so make sure you start out at all high to low fittings in order.

Start the water at the highest point and work you way down as you remove the temp. tape or caulk one fitting at a time. This has worked for me.

CR

 

[Ray Bowles]

I have used the vacumn cleaner method and it worked very well. Our leak was small and the amount of water needed to make the leak appear required rain for at least 2 or more days. The exit of the leak was 4 feet from where the water entered and required the boat to be healed over to 10 degrees.
Anyhow, the vacumn method worked but required time to seal all the excape holes for the air that were not our problem. After that the cabin held enough pressure to blow bubbles in the soap solution. We found the hold under another fitting that had not been filled when the new fitting was put over the old one.
Ray

 

[med2463]

Took staysail traveler off today (took 2 strong men). Only thru bolted at each end, rest were screws into the deck. Poured Gorilla Glue into holes and watched water bubble up. Not putting traveler back on, saving for next owner. Filling holes and painting.