I bought an O'day 25 2 years ago and rebedded the chainplates literally 30 minutes after I signed the papers due to slight stains in the plywood veneer. A reliable fiberglass repair shop said that both bulkheads were still fine structurally. My problem is I've rebedded the chainplates 3 times since then and have only had no leaking on the bulkhead for a short period of time. Assuming that I'm doing it right (it's not rocket science after all) I was wondering where else the leak could be coming from. It looks possible that a deck leak from the hand rail or opening port "upstream" could be travelling down the upper side of the liner onto the chainplate below the deck and then following the chainplates down below the liner into view in the cabin. Has anyone else had a mysterious leak of this nature? I've rebedded the hatch slides this year so they are not the problem. I've also ordered a couple of new ports from Rudy. Thanks for your thoughts. We love my 25, with 3 coats of Fleetwax it looks like a million bucks!
Leaking chainplates or something else?
- Thread starter Rich Langdon
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Years ago when one of my chainplate "L" brackets broke on my 86 O'Day 222, Rudy sold me some O'Day 25 chainplates and I installed them myself. To make a long story short, I had beefed up my bulkhead with oak boards prior to installing the chainplates but I was getting leaks around them so I went to a marine metal fabricator on the river and had him make up some covers and he welded them to my chainplates. I finished the job of reinstalling them with bolts, nuts, and backup plates. That was the end of my chainplate leaks.
Then I read about cleaning my deck with a household cleaner that contained Oxalic Acid. Big mistake. It cleaned the deck all right but it ate out the caulking under my gunwale molding and I had leaks up the ying yang. So I removed the moldings and caulked all the screws and screw holes and that problem was cured.
Just recently I had a leak coming in from a single screw hole on my bow toe rail. That one was so obvious after I looked at it. The first bung was missing on the Port bow toe rail and if I looked at it real close, I could see daylight under it. Not only that, but my pull over sweatshirt in that small bow compartment was soaking wet.
With that said; I don't think that I've ever had a lifeline stanchion leak and I wouldn't remove one unless I knew absolutely sure that it was leaking from it.
Do like I did. Have someone run a garden hose over the suspected area of your boat and go in the cabin and do some looking and feeling around.
One of my newest leaks was a tabernacle bolt. A tiny drop was forming on one of the bolts from around the threads. What a pain in the butt that one was.
My mast tabernacle sits on a block of Trex now and it is now bedded with gray Butyl Tape. It was sitting on a Teak block prior to the leak. Hopefully, that problem is solved.
I think that the easiest job was the gunwale molding but it has to be done with the boat on the hard. The caulking under that molding is only good for about ten years and all we're taking about is removing the molding and caulking all the screw heads and the screws that hold that molding on. If you have a vinyl molding, you're going to need a caulking that will not have an adverse reaction to the plastic. Dow Corning 795 is good for vinyl moldings, port lights, and plastic hatches.
If you opt for welded chainplate covers on your boat like I did, you need to take into consideration, where the bolts will come through the deck in relation to the V birth side of your bulkhead. There's the thickness of the bulkhead to consider for the backup plates and the nuts for the bolts.
As far as caulking is concerned, I'm getting to like this Butyl Tape. Check out Main Sail's thread on bedding deck hardware. It's very informative.
Good Luck!
Joe
25 hand rail leak
Yes the leak could be coming from the hand rail. While you would expect to see signs of a handrail leak inside the cabin top, it could be sealed well on the inside therefore flowing downward. If it was last one or two screws of handrail, then the logicical flow would be bulkheads and it would look like chain plate leaks.
Yes chain plate leaks have to be sealed often. Maybe someone used a silicone sealant during one of the routine reseals. That would explain your problems with keeping it reasealed.
While I was one of original supporters of butyl sealants, I understand that one of the major manufacturers of a top of the line sailboats has used bytyl as the sealant between deck and hull. I was told by the owner of one such boat that after so many years the seal looses it ability to maintain a seal and the only way to fix it is to remove deck from hull and reseal.
However, this issue is not applicable to us using bytyl sealants on places where periodic resealing is common, such as chainplates, hatches and grab rails. So, I continue to echo Joe's comments on using butyl sealants. Stay away from 5200 and anything with silicone. Single part urethanes seem to have a good track record, but watch many urethanes are combined with silicone. Silicone should never be used with fiberglass.
To find out about your grab rail leaks remove caps in cabin top. But be very careful because they are no longer available and then you have a choice of a hole or a very different cap.
Ed K
Rich,
Yes the leak could be coming from the hand rail. While you would expect to see signs of a handrail leak inside the cabin top, it could be sealed well on the inside therefore flowing downward. If it was last one or two screws of handrail, then the logicical flow would be bulkheads and it would look like chain plate leaks.
Yes chain plate leaks have to be sealed often. Maybe someone used a silicone sealant during one of the routine reseals. That would explain your problems with keeping it reasealed.
While I was one of original supporters of butyl sealants, I understand that one of the major manufacturers of a top of the line sailboats has used bytyl as the sealant between deck and hull. I was told by the owner of one such boat that after so many years the seal looses it ability to maintain a seal and the only way to fix it is to remove deck from hull and reseal.
However, this issue is not applicable to us using bytyl sealants on places where periodic resealing is common, such as chainplates, hatches and grab rails. So, I continue to echo Joe's comments on using butyl sealants. Stay away from 5200 and anything with silicone. Single part urethanes seem to have a good track record, but watch many urethanes are combined with silicone. Silicone should never be used with fiberglass.
To find out about your grab rail leaks remove caps in cabin top. But be very careful because they are no longer available and then you have a choice of a hole or a very different cap.
Ed K
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Leaking chain plates or something else?
Thanks for the replies guys. Lot of good info there. I use nothing but lifeseal or 3m 4200 for cauking and I bought some Dow Corning 795 for the ports. I'll find the source sooner or later.-Rich
Thanks for the replies guys. Lot of good info there. I use nothing but lifeseal or 3m 4200 for cauking and I bought some Dow Corning 795 for the ports. I'll find the source sooner or later.-Rich
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