Oday 22' rain infiltration to cabin

[islandjim]

I have my 22' Oday and I have noticed that evertime it rains I find that the inside of the cabin has a few leaks. I have siliconed the ports window frames as well as the glass, but I haven't stopped these leaks. I was going to remove all the chain plates and life line sanctions, seal and replace. In most cases I feel the leaks from the deck are not where I find the water dripping inside as I believe the leaks are running along the fiberglass and dripping at the lowest spot. If that doesn't work I need to know where else to look. Has anyone run into this on their boat and can you give me any suggestions of where to look? The boat will be home for the winter next weekend and I plan to spend as many rainy days as needed sitting inside of the cabin finding the leaks. I need suggestions!
Thanks, Jim

 

[emergpa1]

Hi Jim,
You are right that leaks come in and drain along the cabin overhead fiberglass liner. I had a leak under my mast plate and it came out under my port. also the handrails can leak. Everything can leak.
I have an oday 26 so am not familier with you boat, but i have been chasing leaks for several months and have learned a good bit from reading and from trial and error. Just keep taking things off and reseating them until everything is dry. On my oday, everything that is mounted to the deck can leak into the cabin, including toe rails and rub rail.
Of course when you take something off, and reseat (reattach it) it has to be done the correct way and with the correct sealent or you have wasted your time!
I am sure you have hull and deck repair, or this old boat by don casey. If not you will need some good reference for this type of work unless you are an old hand at it.
Good luck and keep us posted.
keith

 

[Joe11688]

I have my 22' Oday and I have noticed that evertime it rains I find that the inside of the cabin has a few leaks. I have siliconed the ports window frames as well as the glass, but I haven't stopped these leaks. I was going to remove all the chain plates and life line sanctions, seal and replace. In most cases I feel the leaks from the deck are not where I find the water dripping inside as I believe the leaks are running along the fiberglass and dripping at the lowest spot. If that doesn't work I need to know where else to look. Has anyone run into this on their boat and can you give me any suggestions of where to look? The boat will be home for the winter next weekend and I plan to spend as many rainy days as needed sitting inside of the cabin finding the leaks. I need suggestions!
Thanks, Jim

For plastic hatches, deck plates and port windows, you should use Dow Corning 795. Silicone is kind to ABS and other plastics where a Polysulfide caulking is harmful, but Silicon doesn't stick well. DC 795 has the adhesive ingredients that Silicon doesn't have.
Years ago, my 222 was leaking like crazy and it turned out to be the gunwale strip molding. I had used a harmful deck cleaner that ate out all the caulking under the molding. If your gunwale molding is made of metal with a rubber strip, remove it, clean the area good, and use a good grade of Polysulfide caulking. Check the archives on this site on an easy concise way of doing this job. Removing this molding is a heck of a lot easier than removing deck hardware and it will eliminate a lot of leaks. The caulking under this strip is only good for about ten years. So if it's never been done, this is the time to do it. You don't have to remove the whole gunwale all the way around all at once. Just do one side at a time and reinstall the moldings. Then do the other side. You should mark all the screw holes with a pencil so that the screws all go back where they came out. There's more holes in the molding than needed. So it's important that the screws all go back where they belong. It's an easy job.
Joe

 

[adirondackbob]

Jim,

Joe and Keith are both right. Any of these things are possible sources of leaks. In fact, on my 1983 O'Day 23, they *all* were. I had water coming in through the mast step, the chainplates, the hand rails, and the gunwale, not to mention the anchor locker drain. It took me three years to find and seal them all. In the process, I replaced the gunwale molding (which was cracked in several places), removed and rebed the chainplates, mast step, and hand rails, and redid the anchor locker drain. My boat's pretty dry now, but preventing and/or plugging leaks is a never-ending job on these boats.

Bob

 

[emergpa1]

Jim,

Joe and Keith are both right. Any of these things are possible sources of leaks. In fact, on my 1983 O'Day 23, they *all* were. I had water coming in through the mast step, the chainplates, the hand rails, and the gunwale, not to mention the anchor locker drain. It took me three years to find and seal them all. In the process, I replaced the gunwale molding (which was cracked in several places), removed and rebed the chainplates, mast step, and hand rails, and redid the anchor locker drain. My boat's pretty dry now, but preventing and/or plugging leaks is a never-ending job on these boats.

Bob

Joe and Keith are both right. Any of these things are possible sources of leaks. In fact, on my 1983 O'Day 23, they *all* were. I had water coming in through the mast step, the chainplates, the hand rails, and the gunwale, not to mention the anchor locker drain. It took me three years to find and seal them all. In the process, I replaced the gunwale molding (which was cracked in several places), removed and rebed the chainplates, mast step, and hand rails, and redid the anchor locker drain. My boat's pretty dry now, but preventing and/or plugging leaks is a never-ending job on these boats.

and that is the way we connect with our boat. by spending time and money investing in them. then the satisfaction is greater.
I had to reseat my stanchions and port winch today because of errors i made earlier. the task took only half a day instead of the three it would have been last time....
keith

Bob[/quote]