moisture in deck

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shawndinn

Has anyone had this issue where water has gotten in through the genoa tracks on a 89 Hunter 30' ? It looks like it runs up the side (just below the windows) and out toward the caprail. It extends about 5 feet long and is located approx. midship. There appears to have little flexing but I'm concerned it will be an expensive and tricky repair.

Any comments?

Thanks
 

Breal

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Apr 21, 2009
43
H 31 Barnegat Bay, NJ
I just did mine twice. I removed all of the bolts, lock washers and washers. There is about 30 of them on my H-31. The 1st time I used 3M 4200, but I was doing the job by myself and I needed a hand screwing everything back together as you tighten the nuts back again, the bolt will spin readily if no one is above deck holding down those screws.
You don't really want to screw the bolt down because as the 3M gets tacky, you will loose the seal as the bolt spins> i don't think you have to worry about that if you are very quick and the 3M material is still soft, but I still wouldn't want to screw down the bolts.
Anyway, my buddy finally arrived 15 -20 minutes later while I waited for him to help me hold the bolts above deck while I tightened the nuts. By then It was too tacky.
It wasn't the best job, I would have liked to move on much quicker, but beggers can't be choosers. Don't try to do this job by yourself. Anyway, I came back the following week and I saw the same leak was still dripping. My leak was more aft than yours, towards the galley under the port window.
The 2nd time, I was turned on to Butyl double sided rubber tpe by someone on this website. It's cheap, like $5 for a role of 50'. Once the butly arrived, I rebeded the track again w/ the 3/4" x 3/32" of butyl tape. The bottom of the track is about 3/4" so I thought great. Wrong.
When I tightened everything up, the butyl did it's job and it spreaded out, kind of like clay would. It took me a long time to scrape off the excess especially in the hot weather. The hotter it is the softer and plyable it is. and the cooler it is, the stiffer it is.
It's generally soft thought, not really stiff.
Anyway, After I finished scraping, I washed my boat thoroughly and guess what, the area where my leak was, was no more. It was completely dry. This makes for a happy camper.
When I rebed the other track in a few weeks, I will sort of stretch the butyl so the width would go from 3/4" to about 1/2" just like clay would. I don't have to worry about it too much because when you tighten it, the butyl will spread and cover all of the voids and under the track.
Do a search here on Butyl tape and you'll get a lot of info on it. someone sugested using cold waterf to cut off the excess. Great Idea. I wish I would have read that when I did the genoa track.
Good luck,
Bernard
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
You may want to consider using masking tape for the next time. Just tape the area so you can do an easy cleanup.
 
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