Leak
Not necessarily a deck fitting or stanchion rail mount, Ray. It could be coming in from the rub rail. The caulking under the rub rail is probably good for about 10 years according to Rudy Nickerson of D&R Marine. If you've ever used any kind of deck cleaning solution with Oxalic Acid as I had done years ago, the caulking is probably eaten away by now. I had this same problem a few years ago and I cured it removing the rubber insert of the deck molding about half way and did a section of the boat at a time and installing each section as I caulked it, until I was able to do the whole boat. There are probably about three sections of molding on your boat and you may be able to get away with just doing one section for now. You can check for leaks after by running a water hose over your deck. The molding has a lot of screw holes in it that aren't used. So what I did was lightly pencil mark the Fiberglass edge above the rub rail, where I removed a screw from the molding so that I could insert it back into that same hole in the fiberglass. It's really not a hard job unless you have to do it on the water, but I suppose that it could be done at the slip. Stay away from silicon caulking for this job. A good Polysulfide caulking such as 3-M Adhesive sealant 4000 UV is what I used. Some guys use Boat Life Boat Caulking, but I've found that the 3-M has a longer shelf life if you keep it in a cool place. Good Luck!
Joe
